TNI Bureau: With an aim to end child marriage among Muslims, the Assam Cabinet gave its nod to repeal the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935.
The decision to repeal the Act was taken at a late-night cabinet meeting held on Friday as it is an obsolete pre-independence Act of the British for the then province of Assam, informed Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Taking to his X handle the CM said, “This Act contained provisions allowing marriage registration even if the bride and groom had not reached the legal ages of 18 and 21 respectively, as required by law. This move marks another significant step towards prohibiting child marriages in Assam.”
Registration of marriages and divorces is not mandatory as per the Act and the machinery of registration is informal, leaving a lot of scope for non-compliance with extant norms, the CM said.
Support Independent Journalism? Keep us live.
As per the decision of the State Cabinet the Muslim Marriage Registrars will be given a one-time compensation of Rs two lakh each for their rehabilitation after the Act is repealed.
It is to be noted that the state government had launched a two phased drive against the child marriage in the state last year.
During the two phase crackdown in February and October the officials had found out that many elderly men married multiple times mostly to young girls, belonging to the poor section of the society.
While as many as 3,483 people were arrested and 4,515 cases were registered in the first phase in February, a total of 915 people were arrested and 710 cases registered in the second phase in October.
Comments are closed.