A four-member committee, which was constituted by the Assam government in May, has submitted in its report that the state legislature has the “legislative competence” to enact a law to end polygamy, following which the government has begun its process of working on a law to this end.
The Home and Political Department of the Assam government on Monday issued a public notice, inviting members of the public to share their suggestions on the proposed law.
In May, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had announced that the state government will move to ban the practice of polygamy through a “legislative action” and constituted the four-member committee to examine the legality of such action. The committee was chaired by retired Gauhati High Court judge Rumi Phukan and included Assam Advocate General Debajit Saikia, Assam Additional Advocate General Nalin Kohli and advocate at the HC Nekibur Zaman.
In its report – submitted earlier this month – the committee stated that “laws favouring monogamy do not violate Article 25 of the Constitution”, which grants freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.
It stated that these rights are “not absolute” and are subject to “public order, morality, health, and legislative provisions for social welfare and reform”.
“The courts have clarified that religious practices must be essential and integral to the religion to receive protection. With respect to Islam, the courts have held that having more than one wife is not an essential part of the religion. Legislation limiting the number of wives does not interfere with the right to practice religion and is within the scope of ‘social welfare and reform’,” it stated.
Last month, Sarma had said that the state government is aiming to introduce a Bill to ban polygamy in the upcoming Assembly session in September.
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“The Law Commission is looking at it [Uniform Civil Code], the parliamentary committee is looking at it. And the Assam government has already conveyed that we are in support of UCC. Pending the decision of UCC, we want to take out one segment of the entire UCC, which is polygamy. So in Assam we want to ban polygamy immediately,” he had said.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
