A fresh bill that forbids qazis or clerics from registering Muslim marriages within the state has been passed by the Assam Cabinet. A further prohibition on child marriage registration is included in the Assam Compulsory Registration of Marriage and Divorce Bill. This bill supersedes several parts of Muslim personal law.
This bill would be introduced during the next Monsoon session of the Assam Assembly on Friday (August 23). The introduction of a standard civil code is often seen as Assam’s first step, and this measure qualifies. The new law states that a sub-registrar, instead than a qazi, will record Muslim weddings.
“We have introduced a bill stipulating that no marriage involving individuals under 18 years of age will be registered. Furthermore, the authority for registration will be transferred from the qazi to the sub-registrar,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced at a press conference, as reported by India Today.
Sarma explained further, “Different communities have diverse cultures for marriage rituals. Our bill has no role in that. It has provisioned the marriage registration only by a government officer. The rest will remain the same whether it is for a Hindu marriage or for a Muslim marriage.”
Sarma brought up the fact that Muslim females under the age of eighteen and boys under the age of twenty-one may register marriages in the past. “This behavior will be forbidden under the new law. From now on, no Muslim girl under the age of eighteen may register her marriage in the state,” said Sarma. Historically, qazis, or clerics, have been in charge of overseeing Muslim marriage and divorce laws.
The government repealed the 1935 Assam Moslem Marriages and Divorces Registration Act by an ordinance earlier this year. Nonetheless, the Chief Minister has received requests from a number of Muslim organizations in Assam to reinstate the qazi system.
Additionally, according to Sarma, the government intends to enact new legislation that would make “love jihad” illegal and carry a life sentence for offenders. The reported efforts by Muslim males to convert Hindu women under the pretense of love are referred to as “love jihad.”
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