Assam cabinet approves Muslim Marriage Registration Bill

The Assam Cabinet meeting on Wednesday approved the Muslim Marriage Registration Bill 2024 whereby the registration of marriage will be done by government and not by Qazi and registering child marriage will be illegal.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa sarma stated in X, "Today the Assam Cabinet has approved the Muslim Marriage Registration Bill 2024. It has two special provisions:

• Now the registration of Muslim marriages will be done by the government and not by the Qazi.

• Registration of child marriage shall be deemed illegal."

Sarma recently said that state government will bringing in a new law that would criminalise Love Jihad where there will be provision is awarding life imprisonment is found guilty.
He added that Assam government will bring a law against Love Jihad and a bill to stop inter-religious transfer of land. "During election, we talked about love jihad.we will bring a law against love jihad which there is be life imprisonment for love Jihad. "


Assam government has earlier decided to repeal the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorce Registration Act and Rules 1935 through the Assam Repealing Bill 2024. The government will table legislation in the next monsoon session of the state assembly.

He explained, “To bring parity in registration of marriage and divorce, the State Cabinet has accorded approval to The Assam Repealing Bill,2024 which aims to repeal the Assam Muslim Marriages And Divorces Registration Act, 1935 and Assam Muslim Marriages And Divorces Registration Rules, 1935. The Bill will be placed before the next Monsoon Session of Assam Legislative Assembly for consideration”.

The State Cabinet has also directed that a suitable legislation be brought for registration of Muslim marriages in Assam, to be considered by the next session of Assembly.

Earlier Assam government was mulling to bring legislation on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) post Lok Sabha polls.


Sarma earlier told the state assembly recently that “under UCC, there are basically four points: there cannot be marriage without attending a certain age, men cannot have two wives, a woman is entitled to a share of parental property and live-in relationships must be registered so that their offspring can also inherit parental properties.”

He said, “In UCC, there are no customs, precedents. UCC does not deal with ways of worship and is not connected to one’s faith.”

He said in the state assembly earlier that under the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935, the marriage of people under the age of nine or ten were allowed. “We launched a tirade against child marriage. However, some got bail in the high court as this Act allows the registration of underage marriages. Is it not our responsibility to amend and rectify this Act,” he asked.

The Assam government had earlier announced that the proposed law on UCC would exempt tribal people

Last year in October Assam police arrested more than 1,000 people in a massive state-wide crackdown against child marriage.

As per the state government data, 3,098 persons were arrested in the first two months of last year under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006. The state registered 4,363 cases of child marriage since February 3, this year.

Sarma had earlier said that child marriage will be eradicated from Assam completely by 2026.

The Assam government had in last year’s budget launched the ‘Mission for Prevention of Child Marriage’ in the state with an allocation of Rs 200 crore.