Hindu Mohajote against proposed marriage registration law

Submitted by priyodesk on Sat, 26/05/2012 - 6:02pm

Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mohajote (Bangladesh National Hindu Grand Alliance) on Saturday demanded the government refrain from enacting Hindu marriage registration law.

It also demanded legal action against those non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that are trying to destroy the peaceful family tradition of the Hindu community.

File Photo

The demands came from a rally held in front of the National Press Club in the city.

The Hindu Mohajote organised the rally in protest against the Cabinet’s nod to the draft of the ‘Hindu Marriage Registration Act 2012’. The Cabinet approved the draft law on May 21, keeping the scope for the registration of marriages of the Hindu community members.

Chief coordinator of Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mohajote Manoj Kumar Mondal, secretary general Advocate Gobinda Chandra Pramanik, spokesperson Polash Kanti Dey, president of Hindu Jubo Mohajote Ripon Dey and president of Hindu Chhatra Mohajote Bipul Biswas, among others, addressed the rally held with executive president of Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mohajote Dinbandhu Roy in the chair.

Speakers at the rally said the Hindu marriage is neither a contract of satisfying physical pleasure nor it is confined between a man and a woman only. But the marriage will be confined between two human beings if the registration system is introduced, they said.

They alleged that some NGOs, financed by Christians, are trying to disrupt social peace and harmony through creating ‘rowdy men and women’ after destroying Hindu rules and family tradition.

They also threatened to wage a mass movement if the government does refrain from formulating the new law.

The government took the initiative as there is no law in the country to register the marriages of Hindus. However, the registration of Hindu marriages will be optional, not mandatory.

In the absence of marriage registration, Hindu women are deprived of the rights to prove the marriage or divorce the husband. Enactment of the law is expected to help establish their rights.

The Hindu community continues to follow Anglo-Hindu laws and there was no legislative development after 1947 regarding the Hindu Family Laws in Bangladesh while India introduced major reforms in the 1950s.

As per the existing system, a Hindu man can abandon his wife and remarry several times but his wives cannot divorce him and so cannot remarry.

In the absence of documents, sometimes it becomes difficult to even prove the marriage. If the husband disowns the wife, she cannot demand alimony.