Bill mandating registration for Muslim marriages passed by Assam

Guwahati: The Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriages and Divorces Bill, 2024 was approved by the Assam Assembly on Thursday. This will replace the Assam Moslem Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935 enacted during the British era

“Today is a historic day in our effort to fight the social evil of child marriage. The #AssamLegislativeAssembly has passed the Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriages and Divorces Bill, 2024,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on X, the New Indian Express reported.

According to him, this Act will now make it mandatory for marriages to be registered with the government and cannot go against the legal marriage age of 18 for females and 21 for males. It will also strictly discourage teenage pregnancy and promote the overall growth of girls.

“I thank all the legislators who pledged their support to this Bill and Govt's vision of preventing child marriage. This Bill is above party politics and is a means to give our girls a life of dignity,” Sarma further posted on X.

He had earlier in the day informed the Assembly that the government's goal was to get rid of the Kazi system in addition to abolishing child marriage. He said that all marriages would be recorded in accordance with a Supreme Court ruling. During deliberations in the Assembly, it was revealed that Assam had ninety Kazis, most of whom are government teachers. The Assam Moslem Marriages and Divorces Registration Act was enacted by the British India government for the then-Province of Assam for Muslim religious and social arrangements, according to a statement made on August 22 by Jogen Mohan, the minister of revenue and disaster management. He claimed that under it, marriages and divorces are not required to be registered, and the machinery of registration is informal.

“There remains a scope of registering marriages of intended person below 21 years (in case of male) and 18 years (in case of female) and hardly any monitoring (is) made for (the) implementation of this Act throughout the state which attracts and invite huge amount of litigation in the criminal/civil court,” Mohan said.

“There is a scope of misuse by both authorised licensee (Muslim marriage registrars) as well as by citizens for underage/minor marriages and forcefully arranged marriages without the consent of the parties,” he further stated.