Shillong, Sep 7: The proposed amendment to the Meghalaya Compulsory Registration of Marriage Act 2012 has been opposed to by a former legislator.
Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit, who has been in the forefront for such legislation on Tuesday expressed his opposition to the proposed amendment.
In a letter to P. K. Aghahari Agrahari, Inspector General of Registration, the former Nongkrem MLA said that his attention has been drawn to the intention of the government to bring a second amendment to the Meghalaya Compulsory Registration of Marriage Act 2012 whereby the proposed amendment sought to delete Section 2(j) which defines the term “Official Purposes” and also to delete the portion mention in the preamble of the principal act which says that, “Whereas further it is mandatory for married man and married woman to compulsorily furnish a marriage certificate for all official purposes;”
“In this connection, I would like to mention that the said proposed amendment is only a sheer attempt to weaken this act and to make it completely redundant and ineffective. Even the first amendment which was brought to define the meaning of “Official Purposes” by way of inserting a new clause (j) in section 2 was not sufficient and should have been more comprehensive,†Basaiawmoit said.
He said that the very purpose of this law is to prevent child marriages, check bigamy or polygamy, help women to exercise their rights of maintenance.
Basaiawmoit stated, “However, this proposed amendment would defeat the very purpose of this piece of legislation.â€
Strongly objecting to this proposed amendment to The Meghalaya Compulsory Registration of Marriage Act 2012, he urged the government to not go ahead with this proposal.