A new Bill for the registration of Muslim marriages and divorces was tabled in the Assam legislative Assembly on Tuesday, proposed as a replacement for the 1935 Act that had governed these matters in the state so far. In February, the Assam government had announced its decision to do away with the Assam Muslim Marriage and Divorce Registration Act, 1935, citing a provision that left scope for marriages between minors as the primary reason. Earlier during the ongoing Assembly session, the Assam Repealing Bill 2024 was tabled to repeal this older Act. On Tuesday, Minister of Revenue and Disaster Management Jogen Mohan tabled the Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriages and Divorces Bill, 2024. Both the Repealing Bill and this Bill will be debated and considered later this week in the Assembly. The tabled Bill states amongst its primary objectives the “prevention of child marriages”, “prevention of marriages without the consent of the parties” and to “check polygamy”. Among the other objectives it lists are “enabling women to claim their rights to live in the matrimonial house, maintenance, etc”, “enabling widows to claim their inheritance rights and other benefits and privileges which they are entitled to after the death of their husband”, deterring “men from deserting women after marriage”, and “strengthening the institute of marriage”. The Bill states that its provisions “shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, the provisions of the prevailing Muslim personal laws”. Under the 1935 Act, the state was authorised to grant licences to “any person, being a Muslim” to register such marriages and divorces, and these Muslim registrars were deemed to be public servants. There have been 95 such Muslim registrars across the state. This position has been done away with in the new Bill, and the registration under the new Bill is to be carried out by the Marriage and Divorce Registrar of the district concerned. Among the conditions proposed for the registration of a marriage under the Bill is that the woman must have attained 18 years of age and the man 21 years of age before the date of the solemnisation of the marriage. It also requires that the marriage be solemnised “on free consent of both the parties”. The Bill also proposes that during the scrutiny of documents for the registration of a marriage, if the Registrar finds that one of the parties is a minor, he shall immediately report it to the jurisdictional Child Marriage Prohibition Officers and send them the relevant records to initiate legal action. The Bill proposes that the intended parties shall be required to give a minimum 30-day notice to the Marriage and Divorce Registrar, which will be published at “some conspicuous place” in his office, and that a person may object to the marriage within the 30-day period on the grounds that any of the conditions laid down in the Bill are violated, which will subsequently have to be inquired into by the Registrar. If the Registrar, after the inquiry, refuses to solemnise the marriage, the Bill provides for two stages of appeal – first to the District Registrar and then to the Registrar General of Marriages.
