Guwahati/IBNS: The Assam government has passed a bill making registration mandatory for Muslim marriage and divorce in the state, media reports said.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said his government will adhere to the Muslim personal law and Islamic rituals but will require compulsory registration.
Muslim marriages already registered by Qazis, and those married in the absence of Qazis in the last six months (after Qazis became irrelevant following an ordinance), will be valid for registration but intended marriages have to be registered compulsorily, Sarma said as quoted by The Times of India.
The new law came after the assembly passed the Assam Repealing Bill, 2024.
The bill abolished the colonial-era Assam Moslem Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935.
The Chief Minister has said Qazis, who are not government officials, will not be allowed to register marriages.
The registration will be done at a symbolic Rs. 1.
Under the new law, a girl and a boy will have to be 18 and 21 years of age respectively at the time of solemnisation of marriage.
Sarma said the law will aim to end child marriages.
