Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday revealed that the state government has drafted a bill to curb deception in cases of marriage.
Speaking to Republic TV, the minister said that the bill will be enacted after the BJP-led government is re-elected to power in the 2021 Assam Assembly polls.
Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma remarked, “Actually, in Assam, we have seen many cases where girls particularly get engaged to a boy thinking that they are from the same religion. Because many people hide their real identity in social media and thereafter, certain things happen after which the girls cannot come back from the situation. We continued to get such complaints and they were authenticated later on by facts and circumstances. We consider that marriage is a voluntary engagement by the two consulting parties. There should not be any fraud or element of cheating. So, we have to cover infrastructure or an institutional mechanism where even the remotest chance of fraud is eliminated. We have drafted a law. But we do not want to push it now as Assam is going to elections in the next two months. But as and when we come back to power, this will be our priority.”
Weighing in on the contours of the proposed bill, Sarma stated that it will ensure that no person can provide a false identity to get married.