Assam govt for ban on polygamy by state law

Guwahati: The BJP-led Assam government has decided to set up an expert committe to examine whether polygamy can be banned in the state by a legislation to provide a major push for empowering women as it steps into its third year from Thursday.
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, on the eve of completion of second year in office, on Tuesday said the prevalence of the practice of polygamy, both formal and informal, was found to be high during the crackdown on child marriages since January last.
Polygamy is generally prohibited in all religious communities in India, except the Muslim community. Practising polygamy is an offence punishable under Section 494 and 495 of the IPC, except for the Muslim community, where Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 governs the law pertaining to marriage which allows it.
Moreover, India is also a signatory to various international conventions and covenants viz. UN Committee on Civil and Political Rights, Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women which notes that Polygamy violates the dignity of women and should be abolished wherever it continues to exist.
“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 examine the provisions of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Act, 1937 read with Article 25 of the Constitution of India, in relation to the directive principle of state policy for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC),” Sarma said.
“We are not going towards Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for which a national consensus is required and the Centre will take the initiative on that. But in Assam, as one component of the UCC, we want to declare polygamy unconstitutional and illegal through a state act,” he added.
“I have studied last seven days and found that polygamy is not an essential practice of Islamic law. We see that even Prophet Mohammed preferred monogamy,” Sarma said.