Says RIB survey
Some 91.3 percent respondents, 74.5 percent of whom were women, of a survey conducted by Meghna Guhathakurta, executive director of Research Initiatives of Bangladesh
(RIB), demanded a system to make marriage registration compulsory.
The study, “The necessity and importance of Hindu marriage law”, was disseminated in a seminar organised by RIB and Manusher Jonno Foundation in the capital’s Cirdap
Auditorium yesterday.
A total of 756 women and 180 men of nine districts were interviewed for the study. The government recently passed Hindu Marriage Registration Act, 2012, keeping Hindu
marriage registration optional.
Presenting the study, Meghna said 93.5 percent of the respondents thought there was no religious barrier to the compulsory marriage registration system.
The study said 61.1 percent of the responding men thought that women were facing discrimination and torture due to the absence of a law making marriage registration
compulsory while 88.3 percent of them deemed the law a necessity.
Shaheen Anam, executive director of Manusher Jonno Foundation, said the law ignored the opinions of thousands of women by keeping Hindu marriage registration optional.
Around 90,000 signatures were collected in favour of making Hindu marriage registration mandatory, but the opinion was not followed, she said
-With The Daily Star input
