Assam government repeals Muslim marriage and Divorce Registration Act

PTC News Desk: The Assam government has chosen to use the Assam Repealing Bill 2024 to repeal the 1935 Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorce Registration Act and Rules. The upcoming monsoon session of the state assembly will see the government present legislation.

Thursday was the state cabinet meeting. “We have taken a significant step to ensure justice for our daughters and sisters by putting additional safeguards against child marriage,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in X. We have resolved to repeal the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorce Registration Act and Rules 1935 through the Assam Repealing Bill 2024 during today’s state cabinet meeting.

He clarified, saying, “The Assam Repealing Bill, 2024, which aims to abolish the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935 and Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration Rules, 1935, has received assent from the State Cabinet in order to bring parity in the registration of marriage and divorce. The bill will be brought up for discussion at the upcoming Assam Legislative Assembly Monsoon Session.

Also, the State Cabinet has ordered that appropriate legislation be introduced so that Muslim marriages in Assam can be registered; this law would be reviewed by the Assembly during its subsequent session.

Prior to the Lok Sabha elections, the Assam government was considering passing laws pertaining to the Uniform Civil Code (UCC).

“Under UCC, there are basically four points: there cannot be marriage without attending a certain age, men cannot have two wives, a woman is entitled to a share of parental property, and live-in relationships must be registered so that their offspring can also inherit parental properties,” Sarma previously told the state assembly.

“There are no precedents or customs in UCC,” he declared. UCC is unrelated to one’s beliefs and has nothing to do with forms of worship.

He had earlier stated in the state parliament that marriages between individuals under the ages of nine or ten were permitted under the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935. “We got into an outburst against child marriage. However, because this Act permits the registration of minor marriages, several were granted bail by the high court. Is it not our duty to make revisions and changes to this Act?” he questioned.

Tribal people would not be affected by the planned UCC law, the Assam government has previously declared. Over a thousand people were detained by Assam police in October of last year during a significant statewide campaign against underage marriage.

3,098 people were detained under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, in the first two months of the year, according to data from the state administration. Since February 3 of this year, 4,363 cases of child marriage have been reported to the authorities.

Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of Assam, has previously declared that child marriage would be totally outlawed in the state by 2026.

With a budget of Rs 200 crore, the Assamese government initiated the “Mission for Prevention of Child Marriage” in the region last year.

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