India’s Assam proposes seven-year jail term for polygamy

NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — The northeastern Indian state of Assam, governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Tuesday introduced a sweeping law to criminalize polygamy, a move that opposition parties and rights groups say is designed to target the state’s large Bengali-origin Muslim population under the guise of legal reform.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, widely regarded as one of the BJP’s most hardline figures, tabled the Assam Prohibition of Polygamy Bill, 2025 in the State Assembly. The proposed law would impose up to seven years’ imprisonment and fines for anyone entering a second marriage while the first remains legally valid. Penalties could increase to ten years for concealing an existing marriage or repeat offenses.

The legislation extends beyond individuals, imposing criminal liability on village heads, qazis, priests, legal guardians, or family members who facilitate or fail to report such marriages. 

Penalties include up to two years’ imprisonment and fines of 100,000 Indian rupees ($1,200) for withholding information from police, and 150,000 Indian rupees ($1,800) for solemnizing a prohibited marriage.

Although the government claims in its official justification that the law is meant to “protect women” and “streamline society,” rights advocates say it is a political tool rather than a measure of gender justice. 

The legislation exempts tribal communities in Sixth Schedule areas and groups listed under Article 342, where customary laws permit multiple marriages — a carve-out opposition parties say reveals the bill’s true intent to target Muslims under the pretext of reform.

Assam has a long history of identity-based politics, including the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which saw nearly two million people — mostly Muslims — declared stateless in 2019. Sarma, who has repeatedly framed Assam’s demographic composition as a “civilizational threat,” has openly linked the polygamy ban to what he calls “population control.”

“This is discriminatory and divisive,” said Rafiqul Islam, general secretary of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), arguing that the exemption for certain communities exposes the government’s sectarian motives. The bill, he said, is designed to mobilize anti-Muslim sentiment ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.

The law also extends its reach beyond state borders, enabling police action against Assamese residents who enter polygamous marriages outside the state or individuals living elsewhere who own property or receive welfare benefits in Assam, raising concerns about excessive state surveillance of private life.

Conviction would trigger disqualification from government employment, withdrawal of state benefits, and a ban on contesting elections, inserting punitive consequences into civil and electoral spheres. The draft also proposes compensation mechanisms for women affected by polygamous marriages and authorizes police to intervene proactively.

The bill was tabled in the absence of opposition lawmakers from the Congress, CPI(M), and Raijor Dal, who staged a walkout over an unrelated issue shortly beforehand.

For many in India, the legislation represents the latest step in a broad Hindutva project to reshape personal law and institutionalize majoritarian control. 

Muslim organizations and rights advocates warn that instead of addressing gender justice, the BJP government continues to weaponize legal tools to criminalize Muslim identity, extend state policing inside families, and manufacture consent for exclusionary politics.