Guwahati, Nov 25: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday tabled the Assam Prohibition of Polygamy Bill, 2025 in the state Assembly, marking a major step toward banning the practice across the state.
Introduced with the permission of Speaker Biswajit Daimary on the first day of the Winter Session, the Bill seeks to criminalise polygamy with imprisonment of up to seven years — and up to 10 years if a person conceals an existing marriage.
The proposed law will be applicable throughout Assam except in Sixth Schedule areas and will not cover members of Scheduled Tribes as defined under Article 342 of the Constitution.
The provisions also extend accountability to gaonburahs, village heads, qazis, parents and legal guardians. Those who “wilfully hide, neglect or unreasonably delay” reporting a polygamous marriage may face the same punishment as the primary offenders, including penalties for repeat offenders and abettors.
The tabling of the Bill occurred in the absence of Congress, CPI(M) and Raijor Dal MLAs, who staged a walkout shortly before its introduction following a discussion on the death of singer Zubeen Garg. The Bill will be taken up for detailed discussion at a later date.
Meanwhile, the state government circulated printed copies of the Tewary Commission report, which probed the 1983 disturbances and the Nellie massacre. The Commission, headed by retired IAS officer T.P. Tewary, was constituted on July 14, 1983, and submitted its report in May 1984. It was later tabled in the Assembly by the AGP government in 1987.
Sarma has previously said that despite being tabled decades ago, the report was not made fully accessible to MLAs, with only one copy available with the Speaker.
The government also referenced the Mehta Commission, formed by Mukti Jujaru Sanmilan and leaders of the Assam Movement to investigate violent incidents during the anti-influx agitation from 1979 to 1985 — a period marked by some of the worst bloodshed in the state’s history, including the Nellie massacre of February 1983, in which over 2,100 people were killed in a single night.
