Dhaka Bureau: On the orders of the High Court, an initiative has been taken to amend the registration form, or Kabinnama, in the case of Muslim marriages. According to the order of the High Court, the derogatory word ‘Kumari’ for women is being removed from the Nikahnama form. Besides, how many wives of the bridegroom are present should also be reported in the amended form. Before this, there was no opportunity to ask whether the groom is married, has a wife, or not.
According to sources in the Law Ministry, the draft (revised) form has already been prepared. Notification may be issued this month itself. Besides, the educational qualifications of Nikah registrars (Qazis) are being amended from Alim to Fazil and to make one Qazi office instead of setting up multiple offices at their own expense at convenient locations in unions and municipalities.
Rules were framed in 2009 in light of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce (Registration) Act, 1974. The Nikahnama form asks for 25 types of information. Paragraph 5 asks for information: ‘Whether the daughter is a virgin, a widow, or a divorced woman’.
In a judgment in 2022, the High Court directed the concerned parties to make changes and corrections in this case. The draft form amended it to read, ‘Whether the daughter is an unmarried, widowed, or divorced woman?’
On the other hand, paragraph 21 of the current Nikahnama form asks, ‘Whether the bridegroom has a wife at present, and if so, whether the groom has obtained the permission of the Arbitration Council under the Muslim Family Law Ordinance, 1961, to enter into another marriage.’
In the draft form, this paragraph asks, ‘Whether the groom is married, single, divorced, or not? How many wives, if any, and whether the groom has obtained the permission of the Arbitration Council under the Muslim Family Law Ordinance, 1961, to enter into another marriage? Apart from this, information about the number of wives who will be present should also be given in the new form.
It should be noted that human rights organizations Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), Women’s Front, and Mahila Parishad filed a public interest petition in the High Court on September 1, 2014, seeking an amendment to the Nikahnama form. In that year, the High Court issued a ruling to the concerned parties. On August 25, 2019, the High Court ruled that writing the word ‘virgin’ in paragraph 5 of the Kabinnama in the case of Muslim marriages is illegal, null, and void.
