Mumbai:

A Muslim man can register more than one marriage as their personal laws permit multiple marriages, the Bombay High Court held in a case of a man seeking to register his union with his third wife. A division bench of Justices B P Colabawalla and Somasekhar Sundaresan on October 15 directed the deputy marriage registration office of the Thane Municipal Corporation to decide the application filed by a Muslim man in February last year seeking to register his third marriage with a woman from Algeria.

The couple, in their plea, sought direction to the authorities to issue them a marriage certificate, claiming that their application was rejected as this was the man’s third marriage.

The authorities refused to register the marriage on the ground that under the Maharashtra Regulation of Marriage Bureaus and Registration of Marriage Act, the definition of marriage contemplates only a single marriage and not multiple unions.

The bench, however, termed the authority’s refusal as “wholly misconceived” and said in the entire scheme of the Act, it does not find anything that would preclude a Muslim man from registering a third marriage.

“Under the personal laws for Muslims, they are entitled to have four wives at a time. Once this is the case, we are unable to accept the submission of the authorities that under the provisions of the Maharashtra Regulation of Marriage Bureaus and Registration of Marriages Act, only one marriage can be registered, even in the case of a Muslim male,” the court said.

The bench said if it were to accept the authorities’ contention, then it would effectively mean that the Maharashtra Regulation of Marriage Bureaus and Registration of Marriages Act overrides and/or has displaced the personal laws of Muslims.

“There is absolutely nothing in this Act to indicate that the personal laws of Muslims have been excluded,” the court said.

It further noted that the same authorities had ironically registered the petitioner’s marriage with his second wife.

The authority had also claimed that the petitioner couple had not furnished certain documents. The court then directed the petitioners to submit all relevant documents within two weeks.

The court ordered that once these documents are submitted, the concerned authority of the Thane civic body shall give the petitioners a personal hearing and pass a reasoned order either granting marriage registration or refusing the same within ten days.

The bench directed that until then, no coercive steps should be taken against the petitioner woman whose passport expired in May this year.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Guwahati:

The Assam government on Thursday introduced a bill to repeal a law to register marriages and divorces of Muslims, stating that it had scope to allow marriages of minors from the community.

Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Jogen Mohan tabled The Assam Repealing Bill, 2024 in the Assembly to abolish The Assam Moslem Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935 and the Assam Repealing Ordinance 2024.

“There remains a scope of registering marriages of intended person below 21 years (in case of male) and 18 years (in case of female),” he said in the Statement of Object and Reasons of the Repealing Bill.

It hardly had any provisions for monitoring the implementation of the Act throughout the state and it attracted huge amounts of litigation in the court, he added.

“There is a scope of misuse by both authorised licensee (Muslim marriage Registrars) as well as by citizens for underage/minor marriages and forcefully arranged marriages without the consent of the parties,” Mr Mohan said.

Besides, the registration of marriages and divorces were not mandatory, and the registration mechanism was informal that left a lot of scope for non-compliance of the norms, he added.

“It is a pre-independence Act adopted by British India Government for the then Province of Assam for Muslim religious and social arrangements,” the minister said.

On Wednesday, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the Assam government will introduce a bill in the ongoing Autumn Session for compulsory government registration of marriage and divorce of Muslim people.

Addressing a press conference after a cabinet meeting Guwahati, Mr Sarma said the government will table the Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriage and Divorce Bill, 2024.

Last month, the Cabinet had approved the Repealing Bill to abolish the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorce Registration Act and Rules of 1935, which permitted underage marriages under specific conditions.

The Assam Cabinet had approved the decision to repeal the Act on February 23, in a bid to end the social menace of child marriage in the state.

The opposition parties had decried the decision, terming it ‘discriminatory against the Muslims’ brought in to polarise the voters in an election year.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)