Qazis can’t register Muslim marriages in Assam anymore: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

Guwahati, Aug 21 (IANS) The Assam Cabinet on Wednesday decided that the Muslim marriage registration must be done by a sub-registrar from now on, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, adding that Qazis would not be able to register any Muslim marriage in the state anymore.”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 also clarified that this has nothing to do with the traditional marriage rituals.”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.The Assam CM further said that earlier, marriage between Muslim boys and girls below 21 and 18 years of age, respectively, could be registered. “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.Meanwhile, the state Cabinet also decided to add more beneficiaries in the government’s flagship 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.” –IANStdr/pgh