MARGAO
Taking cognisance of the complaint lodged by women’s rights activist, Auda Viegas, the Under Secretary (Home) Eshant Sawant has asked the State Registrar to file an interim report in respect of the status of connectivity of all the offices of the civil registrars in the state.
The senior official has also sought a report on the accessibility of records pertaining to the registration of marriage within the State to all the civil registrars.
The development assumes significance and comes in the wake of claims made by Bailancho Ekvott President Auda Viegas that double civil registration of marriages is on the rise in the state.
In fact, she had demanded that the government come out with a mechanism to ascertain the dual registration of marriage to prevent fraud and cheating of women.
Auda had said the civil registrars should either send marriage proposals to the police for verification, adding that the parties to the marriage may be asked to swear an affidavit that they have not tied a nuptial knot before.
In her recent media briefing, Auda had said that the authorities consider bigamy as a serious offense, and demanded that those who marry for the second time when the first marriage is subsisting should be punished.
“The purpose of civil registration is to ensure that marital and conjugal rights of women are safeguarded. Cancel the second marriage. To prevent second marriages, there should be a central verification and police verification on the status of the groom wishing to register the marriage.”
“There should be checks and measures to ascertain the duality of registration of marriage so that cheating is prevented,” she had stated at the media briefing.
While demanding that the responsibility of checking double or more registration should be cast on the respective registrars, Auda had asked the State to ensure that women’s rights are protected to avoid those traumatized women from running from pillar to post to fight for their rights.
