The Assam Legislative Assembly on August 28 passed the Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriages and Divorces Bill, 2024.
- The stated objectives of the bill is to prevent “child marriages” and “marriages without the consent of the parties”, and to “check polygamy”.
- The Assam Assembly also repealed an existing 89-year-old Act for the registration of Muslim marriages and divorces in the state, confirming an Ordinance promulgated five months ago.
- The registration of marriages and divorces between Muslims in Assam had been taking place under the colonial-era Assam Muslim Marriage and Divorce Registration Act, 1935.
- The government’s main argument for doing away with the 1935 Act was that it allowed the registration of marriages of and between minors.
- The Bill passed by the Assembly regulates marriage between two Muslim persons which “includes ‘nikah’ or any other ceremony by which two persons are made husband and wife following Muslim personal law and Islamic rituals”.
- For a marriage to be registered under the new law, seven conditions must be fulfilled, such as the woman should have attained 18 years of age and the man 21 years of age before the marriage.
