Cabinet approval to amend Muslim Marriage & Divorce Act
Posted by Editor on August 21, 2019 - 11:17 am
The joint proposal tabled by Minister of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs Abdul Haleem and Minister of Justice and Prison Reforms Thalatha Atukorale to amend the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act has received the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers.
Accordingly, the Cabinet paper proposes amendments to the minimum age limit, the process of registering marriages and the consent of the parties involved.
Following concerns raised by Muslim activists and human rights organisations, the stakeholders have agreed to amend the decades old Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act.
Following the approval of the Cabinet, proposed amendments will be sent to the legal draftsman for further action.
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I think government did a biggest mistake here which they can’t imagine.
Religious matters, their rules should not concur by the ordinary laws.
This will give bad examples to the other religions. Even they don’t have such, sometimes it can point out with other rules.
I’m not a Muslim, but this is a bad example.
Instead should have used different methods, such as marriage certificate boundaries. Or introduce nullify period of the citizenship until the 21 reach.
As I understand it, amending the Muslim marriage laws will give greater equity to women, and safeguard the welfare of children otherwise considered to be suitable for marriage.
Surely this is a good decision; one that should have been addressed much earlier.
This is not going to effect the Muslim’s faith in any way. I am not a Muslim as well but I think this very good because I can not bear the thought of any one’s daughter given in marriage at the age of 14 or fifteen. These poor children are helpless and do not have a choice. So the mothers of Muslim children should be rejoicing as they now know their children will not go through the same nightmare of being married at a very tender age.