Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said here that the government has received an overwhelming response of people for introducing a law banning polygamy and his government has now started exercise to introduce the Bill in December this year prohibiting, polygamy, which involves marrying multiple spouses.
Addressing a gathering of BJP alliance parties in Tinsukia on Saturday, Sarma said that the state government intends to conclude the process of finalizing the polygamy ban Bill within the next 45 days.
“A legal committee was formed to analyse whether the state government can ban polygamy or not and we have received overwhelming response,” he said.
He informed, “We have received a total of 149 suggestions in response to our public notice. Out of these, 146 suggestions are in favour of the Bill and they support a ban on polygamy.”
However, three suggestions have expressed their opposition, he said adding, “Our next phase is to draft the Bill.”
Sarma also announced, “We will also add some points in the bill in order to stop love jihad in the state.”
The state government had issued a notice on August 21, inviting public opinion on banning polygamy. The notice requested people to submit their views by August 30 via email or post.
Additionally, an expert committee was formed to examine the legislative competence of the state legislature to enact a law in Assam. It submitted its report to the chief minister last month, affirming that the state legislature is competent to enact such a law.
Speaking on the issue of withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the state, the chief minister said, "We will have to take the decision on whether AFSPA is to be withdrawn or not. It is a view of the state government and the union government will take the final view. I will discuss it with the union government this month and towards the end of this month, a concrete decision will be taken."
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 is an act of the Parliament that grants special powers to the Indian Armed Forces to maintain public order in "disturbed areas".
