Pakistan’s Senate passes landmark bill to regulate marriages of minority Hindus in country

17 February, Islamabad

In Pakistan, the much-awaited landmark bill to regulate marriages of minority Hindus in the country is set to become a law. The Hindu Marriage Bill 2017, the first elaborate Hindu community’s personal law, has unanimously been adopted by the Senate.

Dawn News reported that the bill is widely acceptable to Hindus living in Pakistan because it relates to marriage, registration of marriage, separation and remarriage, with the minimum age of marriage set at 18 years for both boys and girls.

The bill will help Hindu women get documentary proof of their marriage. It will be the first personal law for Pakistani Hindus, applicable in Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

The Sindh province has already formulated its own Hindu Marriage law. The bill had already been approved by the National Assembly in September, 2015, and it now just needs signature of the President to become a law.