Law against polygamy

Thanks to the bold decision of the present government in Assam to check population growth and the growing demographic imbalance, the draft of the proposed law banning polygamy in the state is ready for deliberations. It may be recalled that the Himanta Biswa Sarma government had during the last year or more taken a very strong stand against polygamy, particularly practised by a certain community in the state, and a decision was taken to enact such a law that would hold the bull by its horns, insofar as population explosion in the state is concerned. Accordingly, a committee was formed last September to draft a Bill, which is understood to have already completed its task, so that a Bill to this effect would be introduced in the State Assembly in February. The committee has also taken into consideration certain other aspects, like tackling inter-religious marriage by false identity, the role of Kaji in the matter of child marriage, etc., in a particular community where polygamy and child marriage have been rampant. The government had done good by inviting, in August itself, the opinion of the cross-section of people on the proposed law so that there was a broad consensus in the state in favour of putting a full stop to polygamy and, in the process, child marriage. It is important to recall that the expert committee formed by the state government to study the legislative competence of the Assembly to enact a law banning polygamy stated in its report that with respect to Islam, the courts have held that having more than one wife is not an essential part of the religion. Legislation limiting the number of wives does not interfere with the right to practise religion and is within the scope of’social welfare and reform. It has been earlier reported that while the state government had received as many as 149 suggestions in response to a public notice seeking feedback on the proposed law to ban the practice of marrying multiple times, 146 of them were in favour of the bill, indicating strong public support.