The High Court (HC) on Tuesday issued a rule seeking explanation as to why marriages and divorces should not be registered digitally and available online.
The HC also asked why necessary steps, including establishment of a centralised website, a sort pf electronic register,won’t be taken in this regard.
The bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Mia and Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Molla issued the rule after hearing a writ petition filed in the form of public interest litigation.
Ex-husband of Tamima Sultana, who recently wed cricketer Nasir Hossain, and three others including an organization filed the writ petition on March 4.
Advocate Ishrat Hasan stood for the writ petitioner while Deputy Attorney General Nowroz Md Rasel Chowdhury represented the state.
Also read: PBI asked to probe case against cricketer Nasir, his wife
The writ said incidents of frequent fraudulence occurred as matrimony and divorce are not registered digitally, increasing number of marriage-related offences.
Digitalization is essential to avoid the marriage-related crimes, it said.
Meanwhile, Tamima Sultana’s former husband filed the petition as Tamima allegedly got married to cricketer Nasir without divorcing her husband Rakib Hasan.
On February 24, a Dhaka court directed the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to investigate a case filed against Nasir and his wife.
According to the case statement, Tamima got married to Rakib Hasan on February 26, 2011 and they have an eight year old daughter.
Tamima, a cabin crew of Saudia Airlines, had been staying in Saudi Arabia due to Covid-19 situation since March, 2020.
During this time, she contacted her family through mobile phone and social media.
Tamima got married with the cricketer on February 14 while photographs of their marriage went viral on social media which drew the attention of Rakib Hasan. He then proceeded to reveal Tamima never divorced him, which put a cloud over the legal status of her union with Nasir.
For Tamima's, or anyone else's for that matter, second marriage to be legal, the first has to be legally annulled. Tamima insists she divorced Rakib, and produced a document before the media in this connection.
But the concerned municipal office, where the divore document is also supposed to be sent, has denied receiving a copy.