A writ petition has been filed with the High Court seeking a directive to make it mandatory for marriage certificates (kabin nama) to include information about the bride and groom’s previous and existing marriages, children, and government identification, in order to prevent concealment and fraud in marriage.
Supreme Court lawyer Ishrat Hasan filed the public-interest writ petition Tuesday, August 25, naming the secretaries of the Law and Justice Division and the Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division, and the inspector general of the Registration Directorate, as respondents. The petition states that the currently used Bangladesh Form No. 1601, or “Form Gha,” used for marriage registration, has no effective mechanism to equally disclose and verify information about both the bride and groom’s previous and existing marriages, former spouses, marriage and divorce registration records, children, and ongoing legal obligations such as maintenance and guardianship arising from prior relationships. While the current form asks for some information about the groom’s existing wife and consent from an arbitration council, it does not require full disclosure of all his previous marriages, divorces, former wives and children. Similarly, there is no equivalent mechanism to verify the bride’s prior marital history.
The petition states that the ability to conceal such important information before entering into a subsequent marriage is creating opportunities for fraud and family disputes, depriving the person making the marriage decision of their right to make an independent, fully informed choice. It also risks harming the rights of the existing spouse and children.
The petition seeks a directive to amend the marriage certificate to include and make verifiable both parties’ complete history of previous and existing marriages, information on children from previous or existing marriages, ongoing maintenance, guardianship and other legal obligations, and birth registration, national ID or passport numbers.
It has requested that a rule be issued asking why the respondents’ inaction in failing to update the marriage certificate form to include this information should not be declared beyond legal authority, and why a directive should not be issued to amend the form to protect citizens’ family lives.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report