Assam Shifts Muslim Marriage Registration Authority from Qazis to Sub-Registrars: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

The Assam cabinet has decided that registration of marriages in respect of Muslims would now onwards be handled by a sub-registrar, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday. It means that the involvement of Qazis in carrying out marriage registrations for Muslims in this State was to end hereafter.

“Earlier, Qazis used to register Muslim marriages. However, this practice was stopped by an ordinance by the state government. Today, we have decided to bring a bill where it will be provisioned that only a sub-registrar can complete the registration process of Muslim marriages,” CM Sarma said.

He further added that this change does not impinge upon the personal marriage rites.

“Different communities have diverse cultures for marriage rituals. Our bill has no role in that. It has provisioned the marriage registration only by a government officer. The rest will remain the same whether it is for a Hindu marriage or for a Muslim marriage,” Sarma added.

Sarma further pointed out that the proposed legislation will disallow registering of marriages of Muslim minors-below 21 for boys and below 18 for girls.

“But under the new law, this practice will be prohibited. No Muslim minor girl can register their marriage in the state from now on,” he said.

Among other developments, the Cabinet decided to expand the number of beneficiaries covered under the government's Orunoday scheme.

Sarma said: “We conducted a survey before the Lok Sabha polls where we found that at least 10 lakh females in the state are not getting the benefits of the Orunoday scheme. Hence, we have decided to include them in a fresh addition to this flagship scheme. As per the decision of the Cabinet, 12,60,000 new beneficiaries will be added to Orunoday programme across the state. We have also fixed a target that in each assembly segment at least 10,000 new beneficiaries will be included.”