Digital marriage system to curb fraud, polygamy
Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Md Asaduzzaman said on Wednesday digital marriage and divorce registration would leave no scope for child marriage, unauthorised polygamy or marriage-related fraud using fake birth certificates once the system is introduced.
He said the system would be directly interconnected with national identity card and birth registration databases, allowing an individual’s information to be verified with a single click.
The minister made the remarks at a ceremony at the ministry on the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Law and Justice Division and BRAC to implement the project titled “Civil Registration and Vital Statistics: Development of ICT Infrastructure for Marriage and Divorce Registration.”
“As the system will be directly interconnected with the national identity card and birth registration databases, all information about an individual can be verified with just one click. As a result, child marriages using fake documents or forged birth certificates, as well as secret polygamous marriages without the first wife’s knowledge, can be completely prevented,” he said.
Project Director and Joint Secretary Md Azizul Haque signed the MoU on behalf of the Law and Justice Division, while BRAC Social Empowerment and Legal Protection (SELP) programme Director Shashwati Biplob signed on behalf of BRAC.
Secretary of the Law and Justice Division Liaquet Ali Molla delivered the welcome address.
Under the initiative, online marriage and divorce registration is initially being introduced on a pilot basis in 102 unions across 10 upazilas.
The selected upazilas are Kaliganj in Gazipur, Tungipara in Gopalganj, Jhenaigati in Sherpur, Kurigram Sadar, Sundarganj in Gaibandha, Narail Sadar, Kasba in Brahmanbaria, Sylhet Sadar, Chakaria in Cox’s Bazar and Kishoreganj Sadar.
The minister also highlighted an initiative in Jhenaidah aimed at speeding up the disposal of narcotics cases.
“Dope testing before Judicial Magistrates has helped expedite the trial process, and we are already seeing the benefits of the initiative. Both the judiciary and police authorities have reported positive outcomes from the initiative, while local residents say drug-related activities have declined significantly in the area,” he said.
He also said the government’s legal aid programme had helped reduce the rate of new case filings while significantly cutting the existing case backlog.
“I was very happy to see statistics from Manikganj the other day, where around 50 percent of the existing cases that could be disposed of easily have already been reduced,” he said.
