The government of Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sharma has taken an important decision towards stopping child marriage. The Assam government has repealed the State Muslim Marriage and Divorce Registration Act 1935. This bill will now be replaced by the Assam Repealing Bill 2024. The CM of Assam says that the old bill has provisions that allow registration of marriage even if the bride and groom have not attained the legal age. He claims that this bill is a major step towards stopping child marriage in the state.
On Thursday he announced that the Assam Cabinet has decided to repeal the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Registration Act and Rules 1935 through the Assam Repeal Bill 2024. He said that this is an important step towards ensuring justice for our daughters and sisters by taking additional safeguards against child marriage.
We have taken an important step to ensure justice for our daughters and sisters by taking additional safeguards against child marriage. Today in the #AssamCabinet meeting we have decided to repeal the Assam Muslim Marriage and Divorce Registration Act and Rules 1935 through the Assam Repeal Bill 2024.
This bill will be put up for consideration in the next monsoon session of the Assam Legislative Assembly. The Assam Cabinet has also directed that a suitable law will be brought for the registration of Muslim marriages in the state which will be considered in the next session of the Assembly.
The development comes a day after Sharma claimed that the Muslim population in Assam is now 40 per cent. Sharma, the BJP’s Jharkhand election co-in-charge, said during a party meeting in Ranchi that demographic change is a “big issue” in the northeastern state. “I come from Assam and demographic change is a big issue for me. The Muslim population in my state is now 40 per cent which was 12 per cent in 1951. This is not a political issue for me but a matter of life and death.
During a press conference in Ranchi, Sharma alleged that the number of Bangladeshi intruders is increasing in the tribal areas of Jharkhand. He said that the BJP will include a strong action plan against intruders in its manifesto for the upcoming Jharkhand assembly elections. Launching a scathing attack on Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Sarma accused him of turning Jharkhand into a mini Bangladesh. He said that intruders come to Jharkhand and marry tribal girls and grab their land. I demand a law in Jharkhand which has a provision that tribal girls cannot marry intruders.
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 #AssamCabinet today we have decided to repeal the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorce Registration Act and Rules 1935… pic.twitter.com/5rq0LjAmet
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) July 18, 2024
