Plea in High Court against Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriages and Divorces Act

way2barak, 5 December: The Gauhati High Court on Wednesday sought the response of the Assam government to a plea challenging the legality of the recently-enacted Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriages and Divorces Act, 2024.

A Bench of Justices Lanusungkum Jamir and Kaushik Goswami has asked the State government to respond in four weeks to the plea filed by the All Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registrar and Kazi Association.

The Court added that the question of interim relief will be considered on the next date of hearing.

The 2024 law in focus replaced an earlier Act from 1935 which had allowed the registration of Muslim marriages through kazis. The 2024 law has replaced it with a new system of government registration, and also sought to address concerns of child marriage, polygamy etc.

The petitioner-association has called for the reinstatement of the earlier law, namely the (now-repealed) Assam Moslem Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935.

The plea states that an amendment to the 1935 Act would have been enough to rectify any such deficiencies in it, rather than repealing it entirely.

Advocate Adeel Ahmed appeared for the petitioner.

Advocates DK Sharma and J Handique appeared for the Assam government.

The bill proposing the law in question was passed by the Assam Legislative Assembly in August this year. It mandates registration of marriages and divorces for Muslims in Assam with the government.

As per its statement of objects and reasons, the 2024 legislation was introduced to prevent various illegalities that are allegedly prevalent in Muslim marriages such as child marriage, polygamy, deserting of wives by men etc.

Notably, the law also meant to abolish the qazi system, by which clerics traditionally registered Muslim marriages. Under the new law, all marriages will now be registered with the government.

The petitioner has argued that this move will unlawfully impact their ability to discharge their duties, jeopardize their livelihood, and adversely affect the legal rights of the Muslim community in Assam.

The 2024 law, therefore, infringes upon their rights under Articles 25 (Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion) and 26 (Freedom to manage religious affairs) of the Constitution of India, the petitioner-association has contended.

“It is crucial to note that marriage and divorce are governed by religious rituals and tenets. Interfering with the religious affairs of a community by repealing a law that facilitates the registration of such practices amounts to a violation of Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India,” the association’s plea said.

The petitioner association has also countered the State’s claim that Muslim marriages were earlier not required to be compulsorily registered. In this regard, the plea contends that after an amendment in 2010, the registration of Muslim marriages had already been made mandatory.

The Association further stated that they had previously submitted a memorandum to the State’s CM, suggesting amendments to certain provisions of the 1935 Act. They proposed aligning the legal marriage age for Muslims in accordance with law, setting it at 21 for males and 18 for females. Such amendments were sufficient to address any gaps in the earlier law, the petitioner said.