The government has initiated an amendment to the “Child Marriage Prevention Act, 2017” to make digital or online birth registration records mandatory for marriage registration, replacing manual paper certificates, in an effort to curb child marriage.
Minister for Women and Children Affairs AZM Zahid Hossain disclosed the information on Monday in a written response to a question from Cumilla-4 MP Abul Hasnat during the seventh sitting of the 13th National Parliament’s second session.
The minister noted that a draft of the amended law is currently being prepared with technical assistance from UNICEF and UNFPA.
The proposed amendment will close legal loopholes that allow child marriage by exploiting the “special circumstances” provision of the existing law, he said.
The key feature will be the mandatory use of digital birth registration records instead of traditional paper certificates, primarily to stop the practice of forging birth certificates to conceal the actual ages of underage brides and grooms.
In response, the minister further said that because many marriages are performed following religious customs without formal registration, proper monitoring and law enforcement at the field level becomes difficult.
Therefore, to completely eradicate child marriage, a coordinated effort involving law enforcement agencies, local administration, MPs, and local government representatives is essential, the minister said.
Earlier, in his question, Abul Hasnat said that according to the UNICEF Global Child Marriage Index 2026, the rate of child marriage in Bangladesh remains very high compared to other South Asian countries.
Taking advantage of legal loopholes and forgery of birth registration records, underage marriages are still taking place in remote and inaccessible areas of the country, he added.
