A digital system for registering marriages and divorces will make it easier to prevent child marriage, polygamy, fake marriage certificates and other forms of fraud, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman said on Wednesday.
The system will also enable people to verify marriage and divorce records quickly and obtain digital certificates, he said.
The minister was speaking as the chief guest at a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between a project to develop ICT infrastructure for marriage and divorce registration and BRAC.
The ceremony was held at the conference room of the Law Ministry at the Secretariat.
“We want to move forward. If innovative ideas come before us, we want to embrace them and work for public welfare. That is our goal,” Asaduzzaman said.
He said BRAC had long been working at the grassroots level to prevent child marriage and promote women’s rights.
“The initiative has been taken to utilise their experience and expertise,” he added.
Pilot in 10 upazilas
Under the pilot project, online marriage and divorce registration will initially be introduced in 102 unions across 10 upazilas in 10 districts.
The pilot areas are Kaliganj in Gazipur, Tungipara in Gopalganj, Jhenaigati in Sherpur, Kurigram Sadar, Sundarganj in Gaibandha, Narail Sadar, Kasba in Brahmanbaria, Sylhet Sadar, Chakaria in Cox’s Bazar and Kishoreganj Sadar.
The system will be linked to the National Identity Card (NID) and birth and death registration databases to verify the age and identity of individuals.
The linkage is expected to help prevent child marriage and identify secret marriages, polygamy and fraudulent registrations, officials said.
The system will also store marriage and divorce information in real time and facilitate faster issuance of digital certificates.
Software development almost complete
Around 95 per cent of the development work on the online marriage registration software has been completed, according to the minister.
A cloud server has been allocated from the National Data Centre, while API connections have been established with the birth and death registration and NID databases.
Sonali Bank’s payment gateway and biometric devices have also been connected on a trial basis.
The pilot project is expected to cost around Tk 11 crore. The agreement will run from 30 September 2026, to 30 June 2027.
Project Director Md Azizul Haque and BRAC Social Empowerment and Legal Protection Programme Director Shwashati Biplob signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organisations.
