By Tanya Arora    

On August 28, 2024, the Assam government passed a new law mandating the compulsory registration of Muslim marriages and divorces in the Assam Assembly. Through this newly passed bill, namely the Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriages and Divorces Bill, 2024, new rules have been introduced by the state government to govern the marriage and divorce of Muslim couples. Along with passing the said bill, the Assam Legislative Assembly passed The Assam Repealing Bill, 2024, which repealed the Assam (Muslim) Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935 that had previously governed the registration of Muslim marriages and divorces.

To list a few major changes, all of which will be discussed below, the new legislation makes it mandatory for Muslim couples to register their (Muslim) marriages and divorces. It makes it necessary for the couple to follow the procedure prescribed in the legislation for the registration of their marriage, which includes serving a marriage notice to the Marriage and Divorce Registrar either before or after the wedding to provide the scope for hearing out objections, if any. The application for registration must be submitted within 30 days of the marriage ceremony, and the certificate can only be issued once the registrar is satisfied that no valid objections exist. The 2024 Bill prevents the marriage registrar from solemnising a marriage until any objections have been thoroughly investigated.

Another change that has been introduced through the new bill is that a minimum legal age for marriage has been set at 18 years for the bride 18 or 21 years for the groom. Any registration of marriage has been explicitly prohibited if this condition has not been met.

The introduction and passing of the said 2024 bill has raised many questions, with the first being that the question of “Muslim personal law being attacked”. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma defended the new law, emphasising its intent to improve the lives of young girls and prevent child marriages. The stance maintained by the government is that the said bill, which has been introduced by Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Jogen Mohan, is aimed to fully eliminate the registration of child marriages. Other reasons provided behind bringing the new law was to ensuring marriages are consensual, and to curb polygamy. The bill also seeks to end the role of Kazis in the registration process of Muslim marriages, which CM Sarma had argued complicates the procedure unnecessarily.

This story was originally published in sabrangindia.in. Read the full story here.