KOLKATA: Minority-dominated districts in Bengal bordering Bangladesh at the moment are witnessing an uncommon development – married Muslim {couples}, who learn their vows below Islamic legislation, are dashing to register their marriages below Part 16 of Particular Marriage Act, 1954. In keeping with knowledge accessed by TOI, 1,130 Muslim {couples} utilized to register marriages in Bengal between Nov 2024 and Oct 2025. Greater than half these functions (609) had been made between July and Oct, when Particular Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was underway in neighboring Bihar. Bengal authorities officers linked the spike over the four-month interval to growing nervousness over SIR.Many of those Muslim {couples} needed to amass an extra citizenship doc in view of the approaching SIR rollout in Bengal, officers on the Bengal Marriage Registrar Common workplace mentioned.Most of those functions had been acquired from North Dinajpur (199) and Malda (197), which share their borders with Bihar, adopted by Murshidabad (185) and Cooch Behar (97). All 4 districts additionally share their borders with Bangladesh. Kolkata was on the decrease finish of the info sheet with solely 24 such functions. Jhargram (1) and Kalimpong (2) recorded the least variety of such functions.In keeping with sources, Muslim marriages in rural Bengal are normally carried out below The Bengal Muhammadan Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1876. For this, the state offers licenses to Muhammadan Marriage and Divorce Registrars (MMRs), who’re principally kazis. “Marriage and divorce certificates issued by the kazis are legally legitimate, however lack uniformity, with MMRs following their private codecs. The deal with verification course of can also be imprecise. Because of this, a number of govt and personal our bodies don’t settle for these kazi-issued certificates as legitimate marriage paperwork. The certificates which are issued below Particular Marriage Act, not solely weed out such issues however are probably the most acceptable marriage doc wherever in India. These are additionally thought of as citizenship proof in lots of instances,” an officer mentioned.One other senior official identified that marriage and divorce registrations for Muslims had been up to now accomplished below the 1876 Act as a result of the method was less complicated, permitting people to rapidly marry, divorce and remarry. “Whereas polygamy is banned, as a result of this Act vests a number of energy within the kazis, it may be manipulated to finish a wedding rapidly and permit remarriage, bypassing the pains of authorized scrutiny or courtroom instances. The Particular Marriage Act, nevertheless, is extra stringent and permits just one marriage at a time,” the official defined.