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The Assam government has introduced a bill to repeal a law to register marriages and divorces of Muslims, stating that it had scope to allow marriages of minors from the community.
Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Jogen Mohan tabled The Assam Repealing Bill, 2024 in the Assembly to abolish The Assam Moslem Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935 and the Assam Repealing Ordinance 2024.
“There remains a scope of registering marriages of intended person below 21 years (in case of male) and 18 years (in case of female),” he said in the Statement of Object and Reasons of the Repealing Bill.
It hardly had any provisions for monitoring the implementation of the Act throughout the state and it attracted huge amounts of litigation in the court, he added.
“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,” Mohan said.
Assam cabinet has given its nod to repeal the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935 in a bid to end child marriage, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
“This Act contained provisions allowing marriage registration even if the bride and groom had not reached the legal ages of 18 and 21 respectively, as required by law. This move marks another significant step towards prohibiting child marriages in Assam,” the chief minister posted on X.
Opposition parties, however, termed the decision “discriminatory against Muslims” and “attempt to polarise voters in an election year”.
Speaking to PTI, Congress MLA Abdul Rashid Mandal alleged that by taking a decision to repeal the Act in the year of Lok Saha polls, the government “was trying to polarise voters… it is nothing but a discriminatory decision against Muslims.”
