The chief minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma has once again reiterated his commitment to ban polygamy and informed that his government will soon bring the bill to the state assembly to ban the practice. The bill will be tabled after the expert committee formed the purpose submits its bill.
Talking to the media, the Assam CM stated, “If the expert committee give the report, before that, then we want to introduce it in the upcoming assembly session in September. If for some reason we could not do it, then, we will do it in the January assembly session.”
When asked about political opposition to the proposed Uniform Civil Code, Himanta Biswa Sarma said that UCC is a larger subject and polygamy is just a part of it. He said that while work on UCC is going on at the central level, the state wants to ban polygamy immediately.
“UCC is a matter which will be decided by the parliament and of course, state can also take the call with the assent of the president. So, UCC involves various issues. The law commission is looking at it. The parliamentary committee is looking at it and the Assam government has already conveyed that we are in support of UCC,” he responded to a question regarding the objection of the opposition parties to the Uniform Civil Code.
He added, “Pending the decision on UCC, we want to take out one segment of UCC that is polygamy. So, in Assam, we want to ban polygamy immediately.”
#WATCH | Guwahati | We are planning to introduce the Bill to ban polygamy in the upcoming Assembly session…If for some reason we are not able to do so then we will introduce the Bill in the January Assembly session…In Assam we want to ban polygamy immediately: Himanta Biswa… pic.twitter.com/DAuUg8JYi2
— ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2023
Notably, the chief minister’s significant declaration came after his administration established a panel in May to assess the validity of a legislative measure to outlaw the tradition of polygamy. Justice Rumi Phukan, a retired judge from the Gauhati High Court, is the chairperson of the four-person panel. The other members are Gauhati High Court attorney Nekibur Zaman, Assam Additional Advocate General Nalin Kohli and Assam Advocate General Debajit Saikia.
The committee was tasked with scrutinising the provisions of The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Act, 1937, as well as Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, in relation to the directive principle of state policy for a uniform civil code. The government had said that the committee will engage in extensive discussions with all stakeholders, including legal experts, to arrive at a well-informed decision.
On 11 July, he asserted that polygamy needed to be ended for the benefit of Muslim women. He emphasised that women would greatly benefit from the law since it would grant them equal property rights. “UCC means that polygamy should be stopped and women should get equal rights in property. For the upliftment of Muslim women, it is necessary to end polygamy. Besides this UCC will equate these women with men,” he proclaimed.
Notably, Himanta Biswa Sarma had said that the new law will ban both direct and indirect polygamy. While Muslim men are allowed to marry up to four women, the same is not allowed for other religions, and some non-Muslim men circumvent this by keeping women without formal marriage. The CM said that many men keep other wives without marriage, and this is worse than direct polygamy. Calling it de-facto polygamy, he had said that the govt wants to end both formal and informal polygamy.
