Assam Will Soon Introduce Bill Banning Polygamy, Says CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

The Assam government will soon introduce a bill banning polygamy, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed today.

“The Assam government has not decided on the entire Uniform Civil Code because our focus is limited to child marriage and empowering women. Under the new Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriages and Divorce Bill, the registration of marriages and divorces will be made compulsory and will be handled by the Sub-Registrar rather than the Qazi. The second aspect is banning polygamy, which could come up at any time,” Chief Minister Sarma said while addressing the media in Guwahati.

“We are waiting for any judicial comments on the Uttarakhand UCC. We are closely monitoring developments related to the Uttarakhand UCC,” he added.

The Chief Minister was quick to note that the state government is not looking into a comprehensive UCC as the Assam government’s approach is different.

“We are focusing on combating child marriage and the exploitation of women. We have no involvement with religious matters, and our stance is completely different,” the Chief Minister added.

Speaking further, the Chief Minister said that the government is also working to streamline inter-religion marriages.

“The government has around 4-5 agendas until April 2025, in pursuit of our election manifesto. These include preserving iconic structures and prohibiting land transfers beyond the community. We are now looking into intra-community land transfers to ensure that land does not leave the community,” Chief Minister Sarma informed.

“We are drafting a comprehensive bill that allows only intra-community land transfers and prohibits inter-community land transfers,” Chief Minister Sarma reiterated.

He further informed that the bill will first be introduced for the undivided Goalpara district and later implemented across the entire state.

“Finally, we are also closely examining a rule for government employment that will be restricted to domiciles. We are taking various steps to protect our identity and culture, and these five years will be seen as a period where a final attempt has been made to protect Assam from external influences,” Chief Minister Sarma concluded.

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