Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: (i) Live-in relationships recognized in Assam with mandatory registration.
(ii) No compliance to register the live-in relationships within one month will lead to the penalty of up to three months in jail and a fine of Rs 10,000, or both.
(iii) Children born of a registered live-in are automatically legitimised.
(iv) If a man deserts his live-in partner, she can claim maintenance in court.
(v) Mandatory monogamy – A person cannot have a live-in spouse at the time of marriage.
(vi) All marriages must be compulsorily registered without an exception.
(vii) In streamlining divorce – women get a few extra grounds for divorce if the husband has been guilty of rape or unnatural offence, or if he has more than one wife from before this code (UCC) began.
(viii) Divorce by mutual consent is allowed after one year of separation; the court can fast-track this in cases of exceptional hardships.
(ix) Instant triple talaq is not allowed. Divorce can only happen through a court decree.
(x) Either of the spouses can claim maintenance from the other, but mahr, dower or streedhan that the wife receives remain her own and are over and above any maintenance.
Also Read: UCC in Assam: The Sarma government moves towards a historic reform