Assam state abolishes British-era law governing Muslim marriages

Utkarsh Classes Last Updated 26-02-2024

Assam state abolishes British-era law governing Muslim marriages

State news 4 min read

The Assam Muslim Marriage and Divorce Registration Act, 1935 has now been abolished. The Assam Cabinet has approved the repeal of this Act on 23 February 2024.

After the repeal of this Act, Muslim women of the state will be free from oppression and exploitation. This act will also help in ending child marriage.
To repeal this Act of the British era, the Assam Repeal Ordinance 2024 has been approved. According to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, his government will launch another campaign against child marriage in the state after the Lok Sabha elections.

Benefits of this:

The atrocities and exploitation that have been going on against Muslim women for so long. It will be abolished through this bill. The Prime Minister abolished triple talaq.
According to the previous law of Assam, if a Qazi registers the marriage of a girl below 18 years of age,there is no fault on his part.
But now after the removal of this law, it will not be easy to give divorce. The marriage of a girl below 18 years of age will not be registered.

Child marriage to end from Assam before 2026:

After the Lok Sabha elections, another campaign against child marriage will be launched in Assam. In this context, Chief Minister Sarma said that this issue will be completely eliminated before 2026.

34 percent Muslim population in Assam:

According to the 2011 census, Muslims constitute 34% of the population in Assam, which is 1.06 crore out of the total population of 3.12 crore in the state.

What will happen now if the law is repealed?

This law currently facilitates voluntary registration of Muslim marriages and divorces. The law also authorized the government to grant licenses to register marriages and divorces of Muslim people. After the repeal of this law, such people will not be able to register for marriage and divorce.
After repealing the law, the Assam government said that district commissioners and district registrars will take possession of the registration records maintained by 94 Muslim marriage registrars.
The government will provide a lump sum compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to Muslim marriage registrars (government Qazis) for their rehabilitation after the repeal of the Act.
However, the Qazi government is very angry with this decision of the cabinet.