ENDING POLYGAMY: THE ASSAM ROUTE

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced last week that the state government will bring a Bill in the next Assembly session to ban polygamy. An expert panel led by a former high court judge has upheld the legislative competence of the state Assembly to enact such a law. We take a look at the polygamy debate and what the panel has said

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India and polygamy 

POLYGAMY IS HAVING more than one marital partner concurrently. If a woman has more than one husband, it is polyandry, and if a man has more than one wife, it is polygyny. Polygamy, in India, is mainly understood as polygyny, which was common across communities earlier.

It was abolished for the Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains under the Hindu Marriage Act 1955; for Christians, under the Christian Marriage Act 1872; and for Parsis under the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act 1936. However, it has legal protection for Muslims under the Muslim Personal Laws Act 1937. As per Section 494 of the IPC, polygamy by a person from a community for which it has been outlawed can attract up to seven years of imprisonment. However, those deserted by their spouses for seven years or more are exempt.

Marriage under Concurrent List