Hindu marriages: Pakistan
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
The legal position
Feb 2016: Sindh’s pioneering Hindu Marriage Bill
Sindh Assembly passed the Hindu Marriage Bill 2016 on Monday becoming the first assembly in Pakistan to pass the respective bill.
The bill was moved by Sindh Parliamentary Affairs Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro.
During the discussion on the bill, Khuhro said, “Since the creation of Pakistan, it is the first time that such a law is being passed. The decision has been taken to provide mechanism for formally registering Hindu marriages in Sindh.”
NA committee clears Hindu Marriage Bill
The previous week, a parliamentary panel cleared the Hindu Marriage Bill paving way for regulations on registration of marriage and divorce for the Hindu community in Pakistan.
Chaired by Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Chaudhry Mehmood Bashir Virk, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice took up the bill, for which resolutions have been passed by the provincial legislatures of Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkwa.
Khuhro said that opposition lawmakers wished to refer this bill to the standing committee, in order to improve it and seek input from minority stakeholders.
However, Khuhro reiterated that the assembly has already consulted representatives of the Hindu community.
Shielding women: NA panel to debate Hindu marriage, harassment bills
Conditions for a marriage to become recognised under the bill have been set and are as follows:
A. Parties to the marriage are of 18 years of age or above
B. Parties to marriage are able to give consent
C. At least two witnesses are present at the time of the solemnisation and registration of marriage
According to the bill, every marriage being solemnised under this act will be registered with the union council/ ward within 45 days of the solemnisation.
The Hindu Marriage Bill: becoming a reality
It added that the bill should have retrospective effect for the purpose of validation and registration of the marriage prior to this law. Any person who fails to get his marriage registered will be liable to pay a fine of Rs1,000. The opposition demanded to increase the penalty.
Sept 2016: Federal Hindu marriage bill
Pakistani lawmakers adopt landmark Hindu marriage bill, PTI | Sep 27, 2016
- Pakistan assembly has passed the Hindu marriage bill.
- The bill would enable Hindu community to register their marriages.
- Proof of marriage would offer greater protection to Hindu women, said activists.
Sept 2016: In a historic move, Pakistan's parliament passed a bill to enable the country's minority Hindu community to register their marriages.
The first ever national law was passed after the draft was presented in the lower house or National Assembly by minister for human rights Kamran Michael.
The Nation newspaper reported that the law bill sets the minimum age for marriage for Hindus at 18. The minimum legal age for marriage for citizens of other religions is 18 for men and 16 for women.
Breaking the law regarding the minimum age would result in six months' jail and a Rs 5,000 fine.
UNICEF estimates 21 per cent of women aged 20 to 24 in Pakistan were first married before age 18, with three per cent married before age 16.
Zohra Yusuf, head of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said the proof of marriage would offer greater protection to Hindu women.
"Once marriages are registered, at least they have certain rights that are ensured," she said.
Widows, in particular, were disadvantaged, she said, being unable to prove marriage to their husbands in order to gain government welfare benefits.
The new law legalises remarriage for a widow six months after her husband's death.
It also grants Hindus the right to divorce, with women having the additional right to do so on grounds of negligence, bigamy or having been married before 18.
The National Assembly passed the bill after 10 months of deliberations.
Hindus make up approximately 1.6 per cent of Pakistan's Muslim-majority 190 million population, but they have not had any legal mechanisms to register their marriages since independence in 1947.
Christians, the other main religious minority, have a British law dating back to 1870 regulating their marriages.
Divorced/ widowed Hindu women
Sindh allows them to remarry/ 2018
Pakistan’s Sindh to let divorced or widowed Hindu women remarry, August 11, 2018: The Times of India
For the first time, divorced or widowed Hindu women in Pakistan’s Sindh province have been allowed to remarry under a landmark amendment made by the provincial assembly, a report said.
The Sindh Hindu Marriage (Amendment) Bill 2018 not only accords the right of separation to both the spouses, but also ensures the financial security of the wife and children, ‘The Express Tribune’ reported.
It was moved by Pakistan Muslim League-Functional leader Nand Kumar and passed by the assembly in March. “Either party to Hindu marriage, whether solemnised before or after the commencement of this Act, may present a petition to the court praying for decree of judicial separation,” according to the law. The law also places a general ban of underage marriages in the Hindu community.
“The Hindu community had been protesting forced conversions and marriages of underage girls. This law has banned the marriage of minors from the Hindu community,” said Nand Kumar. Kumar has also moved a bill against the forced conversions of members of religious minorities, but the bill was gathering dust in the Sindh Assembly secretariat. PTI
