Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma tables Polygamy Ban Bill; Mehta and Tewary reports circulated in Assembly

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday tabled the Assam Prohibition of Polygamy Bill, 2025 in the Assembly as the Winter Session opened. The bill was introduced with Speaker Biswajit Daimary’s permission. Opposition MLAs from the Congress, CPI(M) and Raijor Dal were absent after staging a walkout during a discussion on singer Zubeen Garg’s death.

The bill will be taken up for discussion and passage at a later date.

In a parallel development, the chief minister also laid the report of the Justice (retd) T.U. Mehta Commission, which examined the large-scale violence surrounding the 1983 Assembly elections—a period that witnessed some of Assam’s worst episodes of unrest, including the Nellie massacre.

No discussion was held after the report’s submission in the House.

The government further circulated printed copies of the Tewary Commission report, which also probed the 1983 disturbances and the Nellie massacre. Though tabled in 1987, the report had remained largely inaccessible to MLAs. A recent Cabinet decision directed the release of both hard and digital copies during the Winter Session.

The opening day of the session thus saw the introduction of a key social reform bill alongside the circulation of two crucial reports documenting one of Assam’s most turbulent periods.