Guwahati, May 9: The Assam government has decided to form an expert committee to examine whether the state Legislature is empowered to prohibit polygamy in the state.
The committee will scrutinise 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.
The committee will engage in extensive discussions with all stakeholders, including legal experts, to arrive at a well-informed decision.
“The committee will be formed tomorrow and will have six months to prepare a report. We want to take the Muslim community along with us. So the committee will comprise Islamic scholars, intellectuals and legal luminaries to examine the legal provisions as well as the religious and personal aspects. We want to make this a consensus-building process rather than some kind of a provocation,” Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed during a media interaction here on Tuesday.
Notably, polygamy is generally prohibited in all religious communities in India except the Muslim community. Practising polygamy is an offence punishable under Sections 494 and 495 of the IPC except for the Muslim community wherein Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 governs the law pertaining to marriage which allows polygamy.
“In Assam, polygamy is almost non-existent among the educated people and the indigenous Muslims of the state. However, polygamy is to a great extent prevalent in parts of Barak Valley and in areas such as Hojai and Jamunamukh,” the chief minister said.
He further said that along with the crackdown on child marriage in the state, during which we had also found some persons, aged over 60-65 years marrying young girls, banning polygamy was also important.
“We want to ban both formal polygamy and informal polygamy (where a person has more than one spouse who is not legally married). So this committee will suggest ways to curb formal and informal polygamy,” Sarma said.