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Published : 11 Dec 2025, 01:54 PM
The High Court has ruled that marriage and divorce registration has to be digitalised.
The bench of Justice Fahmida Quader and Justice Md Ashif Hasan delivered its verdict on Thursday after the final hearing of a petition over the matter.
Advocate Ishrat Hasan represented the petition, accompanied by lawyer Tanzila Rahman.
In its observations, the court said that it is not possible under the current system to effectively verify marriage and divorce information, which undermines family stability and, in many cases, also creates complications regarding the legitimate parentage of children. In addition, the absence of an operational and effective digital database creates opportunities for fraud, which violates the dignity and fundamental rights of citizens — a human dignity recognised in Articles 31 and 32 of the Constitution.
The verdict said, “The right to life is not only the right to live, it also includes the right to preserve human dignity.”
The ruling noted that despite the existence of a law on registration, the authorities concerned have yet to take the necessary steps to create a complete, operational and effective digital system.
Advocate Ishrat said, “The court has instructed that all information on marriage and divorce must be registered digitally, so that all the information is protected in the government system, the database is fully functional and usable, and citizens, especially women, can easily verify the information and collect digital copies.”
Ishrat said that the court also ordered its directives to be followed quickly and a compliance report be submitted as soon as possible.
She said that the court’s decision will serve as a historic step in the country for family security, women’s safety, the prevention of child marriage, legal transparency and most importantly — to stop fraud related to marriage and divorce.
The lawyer believes that if digital registration is introduced, problems such as secret marriages, hiding multiple marriages, concealing marriage history, and the complexity of proving divorces - will be greatly reduced, and the path to protecting the social dignity of citizens, establishing justice, and rebuilding mutual trust in society will be strengthened.
On Mar 4, 2021, Supreme Court lawyer Ishrat had filed the writ petition on behalf of four victims. The petition states that due to the lack of a central digital database, it is almost impossible to verify information about previous marriages or divorces, and fraud related to marriage and divorce is increasing alarmingly by the exploitation of this opportunity.
On Mar 22, 2021, the High Court issued a rule asking why a central website will not be created for digitally registering marriage and divorce information.
That rule was settled with the decision on Thursday.
