Bangladesh: marriage, polygyny and divorce under the law

1Law applicable to Muslims

Bangladesh inherited Muslim personal law from the British and Pakistani eras. Most Muslims follow the Hanafi school. The main statutes:

• Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961 (MFLO) — amended, among others, by the MFL (Amendment) Ordinance 1982 (provincial references removed, fines converted to taka). Governs polygyny (s.6), talaq (s.7), dissolution other than by talaq (s.8), maintenance (s.9) and mahr (s.10).
• Muslim Marriages and Divorces (Registration) Act 1974 — registration of marriages and talaq by the Nikah Registrar (Kazi).
• Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act 1939 — the wife's grounds for fasakh.
• Child Marriage Restraint Act 2017 (Act No. VI of 2017) — replacing the 1929 Act.
• Family Courts Act 2023 (Act No. 26 of 2023, 18 September 2023) — Family Courts; this Act repeals the Family Courts Ordinance 1985 (s.30).

2Marriage registration and the Kazi system

• Act 1974 s.3: notwithstanding any law, custom or usage, every marriage solemnised under Muslim law must be registered.
• s.4: the Government licenses Nikah Registrars (known as Kazi) for particular areas — usually one per area.
• s.5 (amended 2005): if the Kazi himself solemnises the marriage, he must register it immediately; if someone else solemnises it, the bridegroom must report it to the Kazi within 30 days. Breach: simple imprisonment of up to 2 years or a fine of up to 3,000 taka, or both.
• s.6: registration of talaq, including delegated talaq (talak tafwid) exercised by the wife, with a right of appeal to the Registrar within 30 days.
• The kabin-nama (nikahnama) records the mahr, the conditions and whether the right of talaq has been delegated to the wife (talaq tafwid).

3Polygyny: MFLO 1961 s.6 as applied

1. No man, during the subsistence of an existing marriage, may marry again except with the prior written permission of the Arbitration Council; a marriage without permission cannot be registered under the 1974 Act (s.6(1)).
2. An application to the Chairman, who under s.2(b) is the Chairman of the Union Parishad, the Chairman of the Paurashava, the Mayor or Administrator of a City Corporation (Municipal Corporation), or a person appointed by the government in cantonment areas, with the prescribed fee, stating the reasons and whether the consent of the existing wife or wives has been obtained (s.6(2)).
3. The Chairman asks the applicant and the existing wife or wives to nominate representatives. The Arbitration Council may grant permission if satisfied that the marriage is necessary and just (s.6(3)).
4. An application for revision may be made to the Assistant Judge (formerly Munsif), whose decision is final (s.6(4)).

4The 2025 High Court decision on s.6

Supreme Court lawyer Ishrat Hasan filed a writ in December 2021 (rule issued on 5 January 2022), alleging that s.6 is discriminatory and that the Arbitration Council cannot assess a husband's ability to provide maintenance and equal treatment. In August 2025 (Prothom Alo gives 20 August and The Daily Star 31 August; the judgment text has not been checked), the bench of Justice Fahmida Quader and Justice Sayed Jahed Mansur discharged the rule. The full 24-page judgment was published in January 2026.

• The s.6 procedure is neither discriminatory nor arbitrary and does not violate women's fundamental rights.
• The court stressed that the law has never required the first wife's consent; what is required is the permission of the Arbitration Council.
• The petitioner told the media in January 2026 that an appeal would be filed in the Appellate Division (Prothom Alo, bdnews24); for the filing of the appeal, refer to the latest official source.

5Talaq and dissolution

• MFLO s.7(1): a husband who pronounces talaq must immediately give written notice to the Chairman and a copy to the wife. Failure: simple imprisonment of up to 1 year(s), or a fine of up to 10,000 taka, or both (s.7(2)).
• s.7(3)–(4): the talaq takes effect 90 days after the notice is received by the Chairman; within 30 days the Chairman sets up an Arbitration Council for reconciliation.
• s.7(5): if the wife is pregnant, the talaq takes effect after the pregnancy ends or after 90 days, whichever is later.
• s.7(6): the couple may remarry without an intervening marriage to a third party, except after a third talaq that has taken effect.
• s.8: the same procedure applies to delegated talaq (talak tafwid) by the wife and to dissolution other than by talaq (khulʿ, mubara'ah).
• DMMA 1939: grounds for fasakh in the Family Court — including the husband's failure to provide maintenance, cruelty, and marrying again in breach of the MFLO.

6Maintenance when there is more than one wife

MFLO s.9(1) specifically addresses polygyny: if a husband fails to maintain his wife adequately, or, where he has more than one wife, fails to maintain them equitably, the wife — any or all of them — may apply to the Chairman, who sets up an Arbitration Council to issue a certificate of the amount of maintenance. A revision may be sought from the Assistant Judge (s.9(2)), and arrears may be recovered as arrears of land revenue (s.9(3)). This is in line with the Shariah requirement that a husband be just in maintenance (nafkah) and the rotation of nights (giliran).

7Child Marriage Restraint Act 2017

This Act (Act No. VI of 2017) repealed the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 and set up Child Marriage Prevention Committees from national to union level. District officers, magistrates, police and local government representatives are empowered to prevent child marriages (s.4 of Act No. VI of 2017), and the courts may issue injunctions (s.5). Offences are cognisable, bailable and non-compoundable (s.14).

8Statistics

• Early marriage. Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2022: 51% of women aged 20–24 married before the age of 18 (down from 73% in 1993–94); the median age at first marriage for women aged 20–49 is 16.9 years; 27% married before 15 years.
• Polygyny. The final BDHS 2022 and 2017-18 reports do not publish a table on co-wives. The 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and UNICEF found that 3.1% of married women aged 15–49 were in a polygynous marriage (indicator PR.6, Table PR.4.1): 3.3% in urban and 3.1% in rural areas.

9Courts and authorities

10Guidance for Malaysians and foreign nationals

• A married Malaysian man needs the permission of the Arbitration Council in Bangladesh and the permission of the Syariah Court in Malaysia (e.g. the Federal Territories: Act 303 s.23). A marriage valid in Bangladesh does not remove the offence of polygyny without permission in Malaysia.
• Register in both countries. Make sure a licensed Kazi registers the nikah and issues a copy of the kabin-nama; then register it in Malaysia through the Malaysian High Commission in Dhaka or the state religious affairs office (Act 303 s.31: six months; the texts of the twelve other state enactments held also set six months, including Sarawak s.29; Terengganu s.29 sets two months after first arriving in Malaysia, according to an unofficial copy of the 2017 text).
• Bangladeshi foreign workers in Malaysia who wish to marry in Malaysia are subject to state Islamic family law as well as immigration and employer requirements; a wife in Bangladesh remains entitled to notice and the MFLO s.6 process.
• Age. Bangladesh sets 21 years for men — higher than in most Malaysian states. A Kazi who registers an underage marriage may lose his licence.
• Use the delegated talaq (talak tafwid) clause and the conditions in the kabin-nama to protect the wife's rights.

Sources & references