འག་ག་ིགཉནེ་འ ལེ་ི ེ ེི ེ ེི ེ ེ (འ་ིོན་ི ོི ོི ོ )བཅའ་མིས་ི ིི

༢༠༠༩ ཅན་མ།

Marriage (Amendment) Act of Bhutan

2009

Marriage (Amendment) Act of Bhutan 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page

Short Title, Commencement and Extent 1

In the Marriage Act of Bhutan 1980, hereinafter

referred to as the Act, Section Kha 7.2 is amended as 2

In the Act, Section Kha 7.6 (2) is amended as 3

In the Act, Section Kha 7.6 (3) is amended as 3

In the Act, Section Kha 8.6 is amended as 3

In the Act, Section Kha 8.7(1) is amended as 4

In the Act, Section Kha 8.7(2) is amended as 4

In the Act, Section Kha 8.8(1) is amended as 5

In the Act, Section Kha 8.17 is amended as 5

In the Act, Section Kha 8.24(1) is amended as 5

In the Act, Section Kha 8.24 (2) is amended as 6

Marriage (Amendment) Act of Bhutan 2009 1

Marriage (Amendment) Act of Bhutan 2009

An Act to amend the Marriage Act of Bhutan 1980

Parliament of the Kingdom of Bhutan do hereby enact the

Marriage (Amendment) Act 2009, on the 22nd Day of the 10 th

Month of the Female Earth Ox Year of the Bhutanese Calendar

corresponding to the 8 th

Day of December, 2009 at its 4 th

Session of the First Parliament as follows:

Short Title, Commencement and Extent

1. This Act shall:

a) Be called the MARRIAGE (AMENDMENT)

ACT OF BHUTAN 2009;

b) Come into force on the 30th Day of the 1st Month

of Iron Male Tiger Year of the Bhutanese

Calendar corresponding to the 15 th

Day of

March 2010; and

c) Extend to the whole of the Kingdom of Bhutan.

Marriage (Amendment) Act of Bhutan 2009 2

2. In the Marriage Act 1980 , hereinafter referred to as the

Act, Section Kha 7.2 is amended as:

In the case of married couple getting a divorce, children

under the age of 9 years shall remain under the custody of

the mother unless the court finds compelling reasons to

order otherwise. Compelling reasons by which a mother can

be deprived of custody include: neglect, abandonment,

unemployment and immorality, habitual drunkenness, drug

addiction, maltreatment of the child, insanity, affliction with

communicable illness, and any other ground that the court

determines. In such a case, the custody of a child may be

given to the other parent or to a third person or recognized

organization established under Civil Society Organization

Act in the best interest of the child. The court shall

determine the frequency and conditions under which the

other parent(s) may meet with the child/children.

Marriage (Amendment) Act of Bhutan 2009 3

3. In the Act , Section Kha 7.6 (2) is amended as:

For finding out the costs incurred for a marriage, the

amount determined by a minimum of three impartial

witnesses not related to either of the parties to the

marriage shall be accepted.

4. In the Act , Section Kha 7.6 (3) is amended as:

However the claims for such expenditure shall not

exceed 20% of one year’s income of the person who

pays.

5. In the Act , Section Kha 8.6 is amended as:

If any person causes a dispute between a couple who are

innocent of committing any offence or brings a false

allegation an offence on the part of either of the parties

to cause a divorce between them, then such a person

causing rift between a married couple by making false

allegations shall be liable for violation under the Penal

Code of Bhutan.

Marriage (Amendment) Act of Bhutan 2009 4

6. In the Act , Section Kha 8.7(1) is amended as:

If a married person who had consented to have illicit

relations with one or two men/women is injured because

of the act of several other men/women, then in such a

case, a report shall have to be submitted to the Court of

competent jurisdiction or Royal Bhutan Police or

Gewog/Thromde Tshogde members within twenty-four

hours of the incident, excluding the time taken for

making the journey to submit the report; and

7. In the Act , Section Kha 8.7(2) is amended as:

In such a case, the person who procures her/him and

each of those involved in the immoral act shall be guilty

of gang rape and shall be liable for sentencing as per the

Penal Code of Bhutan. The person who procures

her/him should be charged with deception as per the

Penal Code of Bhutan. He/she and the members of the

group shall also pay gaw to the other partner.

Marriage (Amendment) Act of Bhutan 2009 5

8. In the Act , Section Kha 8.8(1) is amended as:

If such a person succumbs to his/her injuries when

committing such an act, then that person who had

procured his /her and those persons involved in the act

shall be liable for culpable homicide under the Penal

Code of Bhutan as and make contribution towards the

expenses for the funeral rites for that person.

9. In the Act , Section Kha 8.17 is amended as:

If a person alleges his/her partner having illicit relation

with another person and takes position of property of

that illicit partner or engages in battering that person and

causes physical damages, such harmful and forceful acts

shall be forbidden. If a person violates these provisions,

he/she shall be guilty of extraction and battering of the

other person on separate accounts and shall be liable as

per the Penal Code of Bhutan.

10. In the Act , Section Kha 8.24(1) is amended as:

If as mentioned in the aforesaid Section, a person

abducts a woman after making her unconscious or by

Marriage (Amendment) Act of Bhutan 2009 6

influencing her mind by the use of medicines or drugs,

and if that woman is subsequently traced out, then that

offender shall be liable as per the Penal Code of Bhutan.

Such compensation shall be paid to the victim as

determined by the court in accordance with the Penal

Code of Bhutan.

11. In the Act , Section Kha 8.24 (2) is amended as:

And if in such a search, the abductor only is caught and

the person who had been abducted is not found, then that

offender shall have to restore all the properties taken by

that person who had been abducted.