Islamabad: A parliamentary panel in Pakistan has cleared the Hindu Marriage Bill 2015, paving the way for regulations on registration of marriage and divorce for the Hindu community.
The Dawn reports that five Hindu MNA’s (Members of National Assembly) were specially invited to the deliberations of the Standing Committee on Law and Justice on the Hindu Marriage Bill 2015.
Chaired by Pakistan Muslim League, Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Chaudhry Mehmood Bashir Virk, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice took up the bill for which resolutions have been passed by the provincial legislatures of Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkwa.
The committee unanimously agreed that the act has been made applicable to the whole of Pakistan.
The Ministry of Law and Justice along with Ministry of Human Rights briefed the panel on the bill to codify the law for regulating the marriages and termination of Hindu families in the country.
The panel recommended following amendments in clauses 2 to 25.
Clause 12 sub-section (2)(C) that a spouse may also apply for termination of his/her marriage on the grounds that the other partner has been sentenced to imprisonment for a period of four years instead of three years.
The committee also agreed to delete clause 12(2d) that relates to termination of marriage.(ANI)