Assam govt tables bill to abolish 1935 era law on Muslim marriages, divorces to 'check child marriage' in state

Guwahati: The BJP-led government in Assam on Thursday tabled a bill in the state Assembly that seeks to abolish the Assam Moslem Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935 saying that the "British-era act" had provisions for marriages of minors from the community.

The Assam Repealing Bill, 2024 was introduced in the Assembly by Assam revenue and disaster management minister Jogen Mohan, a day after the state cabinet cleared it.

"There remains a scope of registering marriages of intended persons below 21 years (in case of male) and 18 years (in case of female) and hardly any monitoring made for implementation of this act throughout the state which attracts and invite huge amount of litigation in the criminal/civil court,” Mohan said in the Statement of Object and Reasons of the Repealing Bill.

It further says there is scope of misuse of both authorised licences (Muslim marriage registrars) as well as by citizens for under age/minor marriages and forcefully arranged marriages without consent of the parties.

Besides, the registration of marriages and divorces were not mandatory, and the registration mechanism was informal that left a lot of scope for non-compliance of the norms, he added.

"It is a pre-independence Act adopted by British India Government for the then Province of Assam for Muslim religious and social arrangements," the minister said.

After the Cabinet's approval to the repealing bill on Wednesday, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters that the purpose of repealing the 1935 act was to check child marriages. Sarma government earlier launched a crackdown against child marriage and arrested over 3,000 Muslim men on charges of child marriages.

When asked, Rafikul Islam, an activist working against child marriages in Muslim-dominated areas in Barpeta district, told DH that repealing the act was necessary in order to strengthen the mechanism for registration of marriages and divorces.

"Child marriage is a serious issue among many communities in Assam, particularly the Muslims. Due to lack of proper legal framework and monitoring, child marriage is taking place. We must have strong laws to protect women and children and must do away with old laws which have become irrelevant now. Child marriage has far reaching impact on the society and on the mind and health of women and children."

On Wednesday, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said that the Assam government will introduce a bill - the Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriage and Divorce Bill, 2024 - in the ongoing Autumn Session for compulsory government registration of marriage and divorce of Muslim people.

Last month, the Cabinet had approved the Repealing Bill to abolish the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorce Registration Act and Rules of 1935, which permitted underage marriages under specific conditions.

The Assam Cabinet had approved the decision to repeal the Act on February 23, in a bid to end the social menace of child marriage in the state.

The opposition parties had decried the decision, terming it 'discriminatory against the Muslims' brought in to polarise the voters in an election year.

(With PTI inputs)