Hindu Marriage Registration
Bill placed in JS for making law
A bill was placed in parliament yesterday seeking to enact a law on Hindu marriage registration, first of its kind for the Hindu community in Bangladesh, for, what it said, providing both males and females of the community with legal protection.
Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shafique Ahmed placed the bill and said the proposed legislation would allow Hindu people to seek help from the court in case of necessity.
Currently, there is no specific marriage law or registration system for the Hindus in Bangladesh.
Thus, the Hindu marriages at home follow no legal proceedings but social customs. Moreover, the Hindu marriage rituals or formalities vary from caste to caste.
“Due to lack of any documentary evidence, marriage related any matter is dependent only on oral evidences. As a result, any party of the marriage, particularly of the Hindu women, are being cheated. But it is not possible to easily provide the victim legal aid [due to lack of documents],” said the law minister in a written statement tagged along the bill copies.
Besides, he said, documentary evidence on marriage is essential for travelling, immigration and for other purposes.
In India, the Hindu marriage registration act was made in 1955, he added.
The proposed legislation seeks to make the marriage registration system optional, saying that legality of any marriage will not be questioned if it is not registered.
It, however, imposed a restriction on registering the marriage of any male aged below 21 years and female aged below 18 years.
After enactment of the law, the government would appoint marriage registrar in every upazila in this regard.
The law minister also placed another bill in parliament seeking to amend the Registration Act of 1908 to determine a fee of Tk 100 for registration of a declaration of gift of any immoveable property under the Hindu, Christian and Buddhist personal law.
Such gift can be exchanged only with direct family members like spouse, parents, children, siblings and grandparents.
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