Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said a bill to ban polygamy practices will be introduced in the state during the upcoming budget session of the assembly.

Addressing a press conference, the chief minister said the draft of the bill is being scrutinised by the Law Department at present.

He further stated that we are lining up to end polygamy in the state in the upcoming budget session of the assembly. He added it is with the Law Department for vetting.

On the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) to be considered in an upcoming special four-day session of the Uttarakhand assembly starting from February 5, Sarma said his government was looking forward to the legislation on UCC.   

He said his government will monitor them and see if they can implement it fully. We have time to examine it and proceed accordingly, Sarma said while addressing the press conference.

According to reports, the budget session of the Assam assembly will start on February 5 and conclude on February 28.

In May 2023, the government constituted a four-member committee headed by retired Guwahati High Court judge Rumi Phukan to examine the legislative competence of the state legislature to enact a law to ban polygamy and asked the panel to submit a report within two months.

In August 2023, a panel headed by Phukan submitted its report on the polygamy ban possibility to the Sarma.

After receiving the report, Sarma said the committee had told him that the state has such a right, but the legislation must be given final assent by the President and not the governor.

The chief minister further said that since existing state laws on Muslim marriages don’t specify the eligible age of the brides and groom, the committee also suggested keeping a provision to mention the eligible age for marriage for all in the proposed polygamy law so that there is no lack of clarity with that and rules under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

A shocking case has been reported from Assam’s Silchar where a minor boy’s body was found hanging at the residence of BJP MP Rajdeep Roy on Saturday. According to Cachar Additional Superintendent of Police Subrata Sen, the body of the 10-year-old boy was found with a cloth wrapped around the neck.      

The police officer said the victim’s mother has been working as a domestic help for the last two and a half years at BJP MP Roy’s home and originally hails from the Dholai area.

BJP leader Rajdeep Roy said that he was informed about the incident. He further said that the minor’s body was found hanging at his residence, following which he was rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.  

The body was sent to Silchar Medical College for post-mortem.

I was informed of an emergency at home and I rushed back. Upon reaching home, I discovered that there was a family in my residence. They were workers and they had two children, a boy studying in Class 5 and a girl in Class 8, BJP MP Rajdeep Roy said.

After some time, I came to know that the young boy had allegedly died by suicide by hanging himself. We immediately informed the police and they took the boy’s body for medical examination. Unfortunately, he was pronounced deceased, he added.

Roy said that when he spoke to Silchar Superintendent of Police, he was informed that the matter appeared to be a case of alleged suicide. Roy said that when this incident happened, he was at the party office. He assured that a police investigation would be conducted as per protocol and guidelines.

The BJP leader also said that the family was residing on the first floor of the building and the deceased boy was well-mannered, he also claimed that he personally enrolled the child in school.  

The BJP MP further said that the body was found inside the locked door when his mother and sister returned home after half an hour.

Himanta Biswa Sarma retracted his statements inside the state Assembly after the Congress filed a breach of privilege complaint against the Assam Chief Minister on Wednesday.

A complaint was filed by Congress Legislature Party with the Principal Secretary of Assam Assembly for Sarma’s remarks during a debate on former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from Lok Sabha.

Sarma later withdrew his complaint, however, the Congress has not withdrawn its privilege notice and demanded an apology from the Assam CM.

A complaint letter by signed by over 20 Congress MLAs and addressed to the Principal Secretary said: “Today in the House, the Leader of the House Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has stated that he is aware of the discussion held in the ACLP (Assam Congress Legislature Party) room. Further, he has also stated that some Hon’ble Member of the ACLP has informed him about the decision taken in the CLP meeting held on 28th March, 2023.”

The ACLP said the statement by Sarma was false and hence was bringing a breach of privilege against Leader of the House Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, while urging the principal secretary to take up the notice for “further action” according to the law.

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Commotion erupted in the Assam Assembly on Wednesday morning after the Congress introduced an Adjournment Motion to discuss the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha following his conviction by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case.

Introducing the notice, Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia said they want to send a resolution to the President of India requesting her to uphold the Constitution as it is the same for every citizen and the executive must act fairly to protect it.

In his reply to the motion, Himanta Sarma said that expressing opinions on judicial matters is unprecedented and claimed he knew that the ACLP had taken a decision last night to “create noise” in the House.

 Replying to the motion, Mr Sarma said, “It’s unprecedented that we’re expressing opinions on a judicial matter here. I know that a decision was taken by Congress Legislature Party last night to create noise here.

Sarma later parts of his claim that someone from the opposition had informed him of the Congress’ plan the previous night.

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