Digital registration to enable instant verification of marital status: Asaduzzaman

Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Md Asaduzzaman on Saturday said digital registration of marriages and divorces would enable quick verification of marital information from anywhere in the country, even from abroad, as the information would be stored in an integrated database.

"One of the key objectives of this system is to store information on the marital relationships of people across the country in a reliable and integrated database. This will make it easier to monitor and verify the number of marriages taking place each year, whether any child marriages are occurring and whether marriage-related laws are being properly enforced," he said.

The law minister made the remarks while inaugurating a 10-day training for nikah registrars on using software for online registration of marriages and divorces and other related matters, at BRAC Learning Centre (BLC) in the capital.

"Once online marriage registration is introduced, it will be possible to verify whether a person has been married before, how many marriages they have had, and whether prior approval from the Arbitration Council, which is required for a new marriage, has been obtained."

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"As a result, the scope for contracting a marriage by concealing information, secret marriages and subsequently denying a marriage will be reduced. A woman or man will also be able to learn about a prospective partner's previous marriages before making a decision. Overall, this will help reduce the prevalence of polygamy," Asaduzzaman added.

Mentioning plans to gradually bring marriage registration data under an interoperable system with the National Identity Card (NID), birth registration and passport databases, among other government databases, the law minister said the integration and interconnection of government information systems would make the verification of citizens' identities and relevant information faster and more effective.

"The world is rapidly moving towards technology-driven systems. Bangladesh must also move forward in line with this trend," he said.

Organised under a pilot project titled "Civil Registration and Vital Statistics: Development of ICT Infrastructure for Marriage and Divorce Registration", a total of 26 nikah registrars are taking part in the training programme.

Chaired by Law and Justice Division Secretary Liaquet Ali Molla, the inaugural function was attended by Additional Secretaries Md Khadem Ul Kayes and SM Ershadul Alam, Director General of the Directorate of Bangladesh Legal Aid Md Monjurul Hossain, Inspector General of the Directorate of Registration Shamima Afroze, Project Director Md Azizul Haque and BRAC's Social Empowerment and Legal Protection Programme (SELP) Director Shashwatee Biplob, among others.