Cornered Govt. to Amend Circular on Muslim Marriage

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an apparent face-saving exercise, the state government will hold a high-level meeting in a couple of days to hammer out a new notification aimed at throwing more clarity on the existing one that tries to legalize underage Muslim marriages.

Top sources told TOI that the existing circular will not be withdrawn but will incorporate enough deterrents against child marriage.

The new notification, expected to be issued by the Local Self Government department on Monday or Tuesday, comes against the backdrop of mounting protests against the circular from all quarters though conservative Muslim groups have generally welcomed it.

TOI on Thursday reported the issuance of the controversial circular by the LSG principal secretary James Varghese that said Muslim marriages involving a male aged less than 21 and a female aged less than 18 is legal.

The circular says that such marriages should be registered in accordance with Kerala Marriages Registration Act.

The circular, however, fixed the minimum age for registering the marriage of a Muslim community member as 16 years because the Muslim Marriage Act of 1957 had stipulated so.

Sources said minister M K Muneer discussed the issue with top officials on the broad contours of the proposed amendment on Saturday. "It was not intended to provide a blanket approval for all underage marriages. The real purpose was to help couples who hadn't met the legitimate age bar at the time of marriage and later denied registration of their marriages," said a source in the LSG department. But, the June 14 circular didn't speak about any specific time period for regularising such marriages, which will be rectified in the amendment.

After the Supreme Court order in 2006 that mandated the registration of all marriages, several Muslim couples in different parts of the state sought the registration of their marriages which took place before attaining the legitimate minimum age of 18 years and 21 years for women and men respectively. "They were married under the provisions of Muslim Marriage Act of 1957 which had mandated the minimum age as 16 years only. Their marriage had the consent and approval of families concerned and religious institutions", said the source.

Muneer told reporters that the new circular will advise panchayat presidents and registrars to initiate action against parents who "encourage marriage of minor girls''. "There will be strict measures against them. Legal action under the Child Marriage Prohibition Act would be initiated," he said.

He said the circular was issued to facilitate registration of marriages that have been solemnised. "Children of such couples face problems when they apply for passport and other documents for want of marriage certificate of parents. We were only trying to help them," he said.

Critics of the circular, including opposition leader V S Achuthanandan, CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and writer M N Karasseri, had pointed out that the circular had bypassed the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 2006 and Supreme Court rulings on the issue in 2006 and 2007. VS even demanded the suspension of principal secretary James Varghese who had issued the order.