Assam’s new Muslim marriage bill: On August 29, the Assam Assembly passed the ‘Assam Muslim Marriage Bill,’ a significant legislative change impacting the Muslim community in the state. Under this new law, Muslims in Assam will no longer be required to register their marriages with a Maulvi or Qazi. Instead, the government has made it mandatory to register marriages and divorces through official channels, thereby repealing the Assam Muslim Marriage and Divorce Registration Act of 1935. Additionally, the law introduces strict penalties for child marriage, with offenders facing up to six months in jail if found guilty of marrying a minor.
The Assam government argues that this legislation will help prevent child marriage and polygamy. However, the Muslim community is strongly opposing the bill, viewing it as an infringement on their personal laws and traditions.
Table of Contents
Generally, there are two types of laws in any country. Criminal law and civil law
Criminal law: In this, criminal cases like theft, robbery, assault, murder are heard. In this, there is provision of same type of court, process and punishment for all religions or communities. That is, whether the murder has been committed by a Hindu or a Muslim or whether the person who lost his life in this crime was a Hindu or a Muslim, there is no difference in FIR, hearing and punishment.
Civil law : Matters related to marriage and property come under civil law. In India, customs, culture and traditions have special importance in matters related to marriage, family and property in different religions. On the basis of these, there are different laws for a particular religion or community. For example, marriage and property division among Muslims is done through Muslim Personal Law. Whereas, marriage of Hindus is done through Hindu Marriage Act. Similarly, there are different personal laws for Christians and Sikhs.
The Assam government has tried to change the civil law of marriage through the Muslim Marriage Act.
What is the Muslim Marriage Bill passed in Assam?
According to Supreme Court lawyer Virag Gupta, according to the new law, registration of marriages and divorces of Muslims through the government has become mandatory. Old registrations done through Qazis will remain valid. Registration of new marriages and divorces will now be done according to the new law.
The Assam government had issued an ordinance 5 months ago to abolish the old law, which was repealed after the new law. With this law, the Assam Muslim Marriage and Divorce Registration Act 1935 has been completely abolished. According to the government, the new law will help prevent child marriage and polygamy.
Which main things of the old law is the government going to change?
There will be 5 major changes by repealing the 89-year-old law of the British era.
Registration in government office: In the old law, Qazis were given legal rights for registration of Nikah. According to which about 95 Qazis were appointed at government expense. Now the work of registration will be done in the regional sub-registrar office.
Attempt to ban polygamy: In the old law, registration was optional, which has now been made mandatory. This will not only ban polygamy but will also strengthen the legal right of women to maintenance.
Restrictions on registration of marriage with a minor: According to the old law, marriages of minor girls above 15 years of age were also being registered. With the new law, child marriage and exploitation of women will be stopped and widowed women will get legal rights.
Prevention of illegal infiltration: Application for registration has to be given 30 days in advance and those documents will be verified. It is necessary for one of the girl’s or boy’s side to reside in that district, this will prevent illegal infiltration. A criminal case will be registered against the officer who does the wrong registration.
Equal age for girls of all religions: With this law, the marriage age of girls of women of all religions has become equal. Therefore, this law can be considered a big step towards Uniform Civil Code.
What is the reason given by the Assam government for changing the old law?
On August 22, Assam’s Revenue and Disaster Minister Jogan Mohan presented the bill in the assembly. While presenting it, he had raised objections on these points of the old law…
1. Registration of minors possible : The Assam Muslim Marriage and Divorce Registration Act, 1935 allowed the possibility of registering marriages of men below 21 years of age and women below 18 years of age.
2. Lack of monitoring : There was no provision in the old law to monitor whether the law was being implemented in the entire state or not.
3. Registration: The minister of Assam government says that under this law, registration of marriages and divorces was merely a formality. There was scope for violation of rules in this.
4. Old law : This is an act before independence, which was implemented by the then British India government for the religious and social activities of the Muslims of Assam province. Therefore, changes are necessary in it.
Supreme Court lawyer Virag Gupta says that some critics opposing the new law say that according to several decisions of the Supreme Court and other laws, registration of birth, death, marriage and divorce is mandatory in India.
According to the report of UNICEF, an organization associated with the United Nations, more than half of the world’s child brides are in 5 countries, of which India is the leading one. Therefore, everyone should welcome this new progressive and constitutional law of Assam.
Why are people of the Muslim community opposing the Muslim Marriage Act?
According to the Muslim side, instead of making a new law, this objective could have been achieved by changing sections 8 and 10 of the old law. According to them, making registration of all marriages mandatory will cause inconvenience to people.
According to Muslim Personal Law, minor girls can get married, whereas the new law will stop this. In such a situation, many Muslim fundamentalist organizations are opposing the new law by calling it anti-personal law. According to them, many provisions of the Special Marriage Act have been included in the new law. The Special Marriage Act was made for the marriage of people of two different religions. In such a situation, it is not right to apply it for marriages in the Muslim community.
Is Assam’s Muslim Marriage Bill against Muslim Personal Law?
Virag Gupta says that according to the government, the new law will not interfere with marriages conducted according to Islamic customs. The only condition in the new law is that marriages prohibited by Islam will not be registered under the new law.
A law made by Parliament cannot be broken under the guise of Muslim Personal Law to justify child marriage. According to an important decision of the Kerala High Court last month, the Child Marriage Abolition Act-2006 applies to people of all religions.
The Supreme Court had given an important decision in the Seema vs. Ashwini Kumar case in 2006. According to that, the states and the central government had to make necessary laws for marriage registration. Therefore, Assam’s new law is constitutional as well as in accordance with the decisions of the Supreme Court.
Also read:
