The Assam government on Thursday introduced a bill to repeal a law on the registration of Muslim marriages and divorces, saying that existing legislation has a “scope of misuse” to allow child marriage.

State minister Jogen Mohan tabled the 2024 Assam Repealing Bill in the Legislative Assembly to abolish the Assam Moslem Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935. The Act allows registrars operating in the districts to grant licences to Muslim persons to register marriages and divorces in line with Muslim personal law.

The Assam government said that the 1935 Act is a British-era law under which, registration of marriages and divorces is not mandatory and that the mechanism for registrations is informal, “leaving lot of scope of non-compliance”.

There is scope for registering marriages of men who were under 21 years and females below the age of 18, the Assam government said. It added that the implementation of the Act was hardly monitored, attracting litigations.

Mohan added: “There is a scope of misuse by both authorised licensees (Muslim marriage registrars) as well as by citizens for underage/minor marriages and forcefully arranged marriages without the consent of the parties.”

On Wednesday, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the 1935 Act made registration of a Muslim marriage voluntary and that it allowed guardians to apply for the registration of marriages of underage children.

He said that the Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriage and Divorce Bill, 2024, will be introduced as a replacement.

“The new law will not impact the conduct of Muslim marriages and divorces,” The Hindu quoted Sarma as saying. “It will only entail the registration of marriages and divorces by government officials instead of qazis [experts on Muslim scriptures] apart from stopping the registration of marriage of minors.”

In February, the state Cabinet approved the Assam Repealing Ordinance, 2024, to quash the 1935 Act. The chief minister had said at the time that the move “marks another significant step towards prohibiting child marriages in Assam”.

However, experts have argued that the repeal would lead to confusion. They told Scroll that the Assam government did not need to repeal the whole Act if stopping child marriages was the only objective. They said only Section 8(1) could have been amended for the purpose.

They also said that the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, which is a Central act, already forbids marriages involving minors across the country.

Muslims constitute 34% of the northeastern state’s population, according to the 2011 Census.

In February 2023, Assam Police launched a crackdown on child marriages, arresting more than 4,000 persons under either the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act or the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.

Also read: Assam’s repeal of Muslim marriage act will not curb child marriage – but could pressure Muslims