Want to ban polygamy, says Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma; to set up expert panel

On the eve of completing 2 successful years in office, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today made a significant announcement and said that his government wants to ban polygamy in Assam.

An expert committee would be set up by tomorrow to look at the legal aspects.

“We want to stop polygamy in Assam. We want to the stop the trend where a man whether Hindu or Muslim marries 4 women. Assam government has decided to constitute a committee to scrutinize the provisions of The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Act, 1937, along with Article 25 of the Constitution of India, in relation to the directive principle of state policy for a uniform civil code.”

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the government intends to ban polygamy through a State Act. “We are not going through Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for which a national consensus is required, the Central government will take the initiative. But in Assam as a component of UCC we want to ban polygamy in the state. We want to declare polygamy unconstitutional and illegal through a state act.”

Chief Minister Sarma informed that necessary deliberations would be held with all concerned stakeholders before any decision is arrived at.

Sarma said, “For that we will set up a committee which will discuss with all legal luminaries, Islamic scholars and other scholars and give us recommendations. We want to move as soon as possible in this regard”.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that previous orders given by the Supreme Court and other High Courts will form the basic document on the basis of which the expert committee will work.

The Committee will find out whether the Assam Assembly is competent or not, whether we need assent from President, what will be the views of various sections of the society, besides other key aspects.

Chief Minister said that polygamy is prevalent in Barak valley, Hojai, Jamunamukh.

Referring to the recent crackdown against child marriage, Chief Minister Sarma said that this alone would not be enough and banning polygamy would also be equally important. He said, “The biggest concern is that even men marry at the age of 60-65 years, which was witnessed during the recent crackdown on child marriage. So, crackdown on child marriage is only not the solution to stop the child marriage.
The data which we got during the crackdown on child marriage shows that banning polygamy is also an important thing.”