Guwahati :The Assam government is to introduce a significant bill in the upcoming state assembly session starting from August 22, which will make compulsory government registration of marriage and divorce among Muslim community people in the state.

The decision was taken during the state cabinet meeting held at Lok Sewa Bhawan in Guwahati under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Addressing a press conference at Lok Sewa Bhawan in Guwahati, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that, the state cabinet today approved the Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriages Divorces Bill, 2024.

“Earlier, the Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration was conducted by the Kazis. This new bill will ensure that Muslim marriage registration will be conducted by the government, not Kazi. There will be no marriage registration below 18 years. The registration authority will be the Sub Registrar of Assam government,” Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

He further said that this new bill will be introduced in the state assembly session which will be started from August 22. He further said, “the main aim of bringing this new bill is to fight against child marriage”.

On the other hand, the Assam Chief Minister said that – “A 5-km radius area around a heritage structure -like a Mandir or a Namghar which is at least 250 years old will be declared as a protected area. This implies that land in the area can be transacted only between families who have resided there for 3 generations or more. In the case of Majuli, it will cover the entire district.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that his government would introduce a new law that will require compulsory security clearance for the opening of universities in the state. 

“Some institutions from Kerala are keen to open universities in the Muslim-majority areas of Assam. Congress had a policy of easily allowing any rich institution to open a university. A new act will come up in the state cabinet that will make it compulsory to get security clearance for opening nursing colleges, medical colleges, and dental colleges,” Sarma told reporters here.

“There was no security clearance in our system and the acts were formed by Congress, but there was no provision for getting security clearance. We will bring this clause to Assam also and it will take 2-3 months to bring it,” he added. 

The Chief Minister said that some universities in Kerala are now trying to open universities in Barak Valley and Barpeta and when checking their backgrounds, it was found that they were suspicious.  “But there is no provision for checking in Assam.

That’s why we will bring a security clearance provision,” Sarma said.  Chief Minister Hemanta Biswa Sarma led the Assam government is all set to introduce a significant bill in the upcoming state assembly session starting from August 22, which will make compulsory government registration of marriage and divorce among Muslim community people in the state.

The opposition has stated that they will only support the amendment of the child marriage provisions but the government meddling with the marriage and divorce provisions won’t be tolerated and will be opposed fervently.  “We support the amendment of the bill but if they want to repeal the bill, we will protest and fight against this.

We want to rectify the provision of child marriage in the bill… Himanta Biswa Sarma wants to repeal this act because he wants to play the card of communalism… We have no problem with registering our marriages and divorce but we will also follow the rules of Muslim law,” said AIUDF MLA Mazibur Rahman.

“Magistrate will never be able to take over the job of a Qazi… We will oppose the bill… We won’t say anything about not amending child marriage provisions in the act, because even we do not want child marriage. Repealing this act will be against ‘Shariat’,” said Congress leader Wazed Ali Choudhury.

 “Muslim marriage will happen as per Quran and Hadis. It cannot happen in court… The govt has no right to meddle with religion. This is an attempt to go against a particular community. We will not accept it. We will oppose it,” said Congress MLA Nurul Huda.

Notably, the decision to amend the bill was taken during the state cabinet meeting held at Lok Sewa Bhawan in Guwahati under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

 Addressing a press conference at Lok Sewa Bhawan in Guwahati, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that, the state cabinet had approved the Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriages Divorces Bill, 2024.

“Earlier, the Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration was conducted by the Kazis. This new bill will ensure that Muslim marriage registration will be conducted by the government, not Kazi. There will be no marriage registration below 18 years. The registration authority will be the Sub Registrar of Assam government,” Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said. 

He further said that this new bill will be introduced in the state assembly session which will be started from August 22.  “The main aim of bringing this new bill is to fight against child marriage”, he said.

The Assam Chief Minister said, “A 5-km radius area around a heritage structure -like a Mandir or a Namghar which is at least 250 years old will be declared as a protected area. This implies that land in the area can be transacted only between families who have resided there for 3 generations or more. In the case of Majuli, it will cover the entire district.”