The bill, which proposes up to seven years of imprisonment for offenders, has been welcomed by women's rights groups but raises concerns about religious freedom and personal laws
NEW DELHI — The Assam government’s decision to ban polygamy has sparked an intense debate, with critics arguing it may not address the root causes of the issue and disproportionately affect Muslims and other marginalised communities. The bill, which proposes up to seven years of imprisonment for offenders, has been welcomed by women’s rights groups but raises concerns about religious freedom and personal laws.
Opposition parties, including the Congress, have criticised the move as politically motivated, pointing out that the bill doesn’t apply to tribal areas and Sixth Schedule regions, potentially creating unequal treatment. Some argue that the government should focus on implementing existing laws and addressing social issues like poverty and education rather than introducing new legislation.
Legal experts point out that the push to criminalise polygamy is part of the wider ideological campaign by Hindutva organisations to introduce a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), a move widely viewed as eroding India’s plural legal traditions and undermining the constitutional protection of religious freedom.
The criticism comes as the state Cabinet on Sunday approved the draft of the bill. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who has for long campaigned for such a ban, announced that the proposed Assam Prohibition of Polygamy Bill, 2025 will be tabled in the Assembly on November 25.
Sarma said the draft legislation exempts Scheduled Tribe communities from its purview. It will also not “immediately” apply to areas under the Bodoland Territorial Council, the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, and the Dima Hasao Autonomous Council, which function under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
These provisions guarantee land protection and limited autonomy to tribal-dominated regions.
In effect, the law will apply primarily to the non-tribal population, a category that, in Assam’s social composition, largely includes the state’s Muslim residents.
Sarma, however, added that Muslims residing in a Sixth Schedule area prior to 2005 will be exempted, a clause that many observers view as a token safeguard masking selective targeting.
The chief minister also announced the creation of a state fund to compensate women affected by polygamy. “The government will help with financial support in the required cases so that no woman faces hardship in her life,” Sarma said.
While the chief minister claimed that the bill is intended to “empower Muslim women,” his repeated framing of polygamy as a practice exclusive to Muslims has drawn sharp criticism from rights groups and legal experts, who see it as an extension of the BJP-led government’s broader attempt to intervene in Muslim personal law.
Rights advocates say the proposed legislation could worsen Assam’s already fragile social fabric. The state has a long history of ethnic and religious tensions, and Muslims have often been portrayed by the BJP as a demographic threat.
“This is not about protecting women,” said Prof Ameer Ali, who teaches political science at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Polygamy is permitted under Muslim personal law, which governs marriage and family matters within the community. The practice was banned among Hindus in the 1950s through the Hindu Code Bill, which also standardised inheritance, adoption, marriage, and divorce.
