NEW DELHI: Assam government on Thursday decided to repeal the colonial-era
Assam Muslim Marriages
and
Divorce Registration Act
and Rules 1935.
Sharing the government's decision on X, chief minister
Himanta Biswa Sarma
called it a "significant step to ensure justice" as it would put "additional safeguard against
child marriage
".
"We have taken a significant step to ensure justice for our
daughters
and sisters by putting additional safeguards against child marriage.
In the meeting of the
Assam Cabinet
today we have decided to repeal the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorce Registration Act and Rules 1935 vide the
Assam Repealing Bill
2024," the Assam CM wrote in a post on X.
The Assam CM said that suitable legislation will be brought for the registration of Muslim marriages in the state by the next assembly session.
The repeal of the will bring in several changes, including banning child marriages, making registration compulsory and eliminating qazis -- the marriage and divorce registrar.
The move comes months after the state Cabinet decided to junk the British-era Assam Muslim Marriage and Divorce Registration Act of 1935, transferring all nuptials and divorce proceedings under that law to the ambit of the Special Marriage Act of 1954.
In February after the repeal of the law, minister Jayanta Malla Baruah had said the objective of repealing the "obsolete" law was to prepare the ground for implementing the proposed Uniform Civil Code, which BJP-governed Uttarakhand adopted less than three weeks ago.
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