GUWAHATI, India - India's Assam state has scrapped an 89-year-old law that allows marriage involving underage Muslims.
The move was met with opposition from leaders of the minority community who called the plan an attempt to polarise voters on religious lines ahead of elections.
Assam has the highest percentage of Muslims among Indian states, at 34 per cent.
It has previously said that it wants to implement uniform civil laws for marriage, divorce, adoption and inheritance, as the state of Uttarakhand did earlier in February.
Nationwide, Hindus, Muslims, Christians and other groups follow their own laws and customs, or a secular code for such matters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has promised a Uniform Civil Code, opposed by Muslims.
Assam repealed the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935, effective from Feb 24, wrote Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on social media platform X on Feb 24.
“This Act contained provisions allowing marriage registration, even if the bride and groom had not reached the legal ages of 18 and 21... This move marks another significant step towards prohibiting child marriages in Assam.”
Asked by Reuters on Feb 25 whether the north-eastern state would implement a Uniform Civil Code before the general election due by May, Mr Sarma said: “Not immediately.”
Many Muslims in Assam trace their roots to the neighbouring Bengali-speaking and Muslim-majority country of Bangladesh. Tension often flares between the state’s Muslims and Hindus.
BJP, the governing party in Assam and Uttarakhand, calls itself the champion of ethnic communities.
Muslim opposition leaders said repealing the colonial-era law was discriminatory.
“They want to polarise their voters by provoking Muslims, which Muslims will not let happen,” Mr Badruddin Ajmal, a lawmaker from Assam who heads the All India United Democratic Front that mainly fights for Muslim causes, told reporters on Feb 24.
“It’s a first step towards bringing a Uniform Civil Code, but this is how the BJP government will come to an end in Assam.” REUTERS
