Guwahati: The Assam government on Thursday constituted a four-member expert committee to examine the legislative competence of the state legislature to enact a law to end polygamy in the state. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier announced that the state government will move to ban the practice of polygamy in Assam through 'legislative action'. Addressing a presser in Assam’s Guwahati on Tuesday to mark the second anniversary of his government, Chief Minister Sarma said that an 'expert committee' would be formed to examine whether the state legislature was empowered to prohibit polygamy. He said this committee, comprising legal experts and scholars, would examine the provisions of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Act, 1937 read with Article 25 of the Constitution of India; the directive principle of state policy.
He tweeted on Thursday: “Following my announcement to form an expert committee to examine the legislative competence of state legislature to enact a law to end polygamy, the state government has constituted the committee today. The committee comprises the following members: 1) Justice (Retired) Rumi Kumari Phukan-Chairperson, 2) Debajit Saikia, Advocate General, Assam-Member, 3) Nalin S Kohli, Additional Advocate General, Assam-Member and 4) Nekibur Zaman-Advocate.”
The four members of the expert committee are Justice (Retired) Rumi Kumari Phukan, the Chairperson of the committee, Advocate General Of Assam Debajit Saikia - member, Additional Advocate General Of Assam Nalin S Kohli - member and Nekibur Zaman - Advocate.
“The committee has been given a deadline of 60 days to submit its report, Chief Minister Sarma added.”
The Chief Minister on Tuesday emphasised that the ban would be achieved through consensus and not aggression.
Sarma added that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Assam government will be consulting intellectuals, Islamic scholars, and elders; hence it will be a consensus-building activity, rather than a provocation.
CM Sarma further said that during the recent crackdown on child marriages in Assam earlier this year, it was found that several elderly men got married several times and to minor girls on most of the occasions.
He opined that the crackdown on child marriage is not the only solution but banning polygamy is also important.
Though the Chief Minister could not share the exact data on the prevalence of polygamy in the state, he pointed out that many cases were detected in southern Assam's Barak Valley and central Assam's Hojai and Jamunamukh.
Sarma added that Polygamy is almost nil among the educated class and the indigenous Muslims of the state.
ABOUT THE MEMBERS
The Chairperson of the new expert committee, Justice (Retired) Rumi Kumari Phukan, last worked as a district and sessions judge in Dibrugarh. She was elevated to the Bench of Additional Judge, Gauhati High Court on January 7, 2015, and became a permanent Judge on January 6, 2019. She retired on June 30, 2022.
After her retirement, the Assam government last year constituted a one-person inquiry commission led by Rumi Kumari Phukan to probe the circumstances leading to a firing incident at Mukroh, along the Assam-Meghalaya inter-state boundary, where four persons, three from Meghalaya and one Assam forest guard, were killed on the morning of 22 November 2022.
On the other hand, Senior Advocate Devajit Saikia, Advocate General of Assam, is a well-known name in the judiciary and is a member of the expert committee.
Senior Advocate Nalin S Kohli, Additional Advocate General of Assam, a popular name in the judiciary, is another expert committee member.
Senior Advocate Nekibur Zaman, a popular figure, is an Advocate of the expert committee.