Chennai: In a recent case, stating that the Hindu Marriage Law permits only Hindus to get married, the court declared a marriage void as the wife had not converted but had a Hindu wedding. The verdict sent ripples through society, as many inter-religious married couples have remained unconverted over the years and many new couples also have no intention of converting.
However, the court clarified that if a couple did not want to convert, they would have to register their marriage under the Special Marriages Act, 1954. Although the Act is in place, very few are aware of it.
Sangavi A, (name changed) who would be celebrating her 25th wedding anniversary in a few months, joked about whether or not they were legally allowed to do so. “During that time, we were only waiting to get married and since we had the approval of my husband’s family, we decided to have a Christian marriage. Soon after my parents agreed too. We did consider a court marriage but only if our parents hadn’t approved.”
Many couples seem to only think of court marriage as an option if the parents disapprove and don’t mind getting married in a religious ceremony( sometimes even of both religions like many celebrities do today) just to please their parents.
V Kumari Sunita got married over 15 years ago but has neither taken her Muslim husband’s name nor converted but didn’t have a court marriage either. “There was a small Nikah ceremony as my husband’s family wanted to have one but I wasn’t really a part of it. We didn’t really think of a court marriage and we definitely weren’t aware of the Act then either,” she said. However, Sunita said that she and her husband have not had any issues with regard to applying for legal documents, “We have a court affidavit but it isn’t a marriage certificate, whatever registration happened during the Nikah is all that we have, but the affidavit suffices for any of our legal applications.”
Couples also said that not many legal procedures including applications for pan cards or voter IDs, demand a marriage certificate, so they haven’t faced too much of a hassle. If couples planning to get married didn’t already know about the Act they are now aware, but worry about the one-month waiting period till a marriage gets finalised.
“First, we have to go to the register office and provide our details, then they put our application up on their notice boards along with our photos and if nobody opposes our marriage within a month, only then will we be legally married. That is risky for us, as there are many who would oppose our marriage,” said a 25-year old woman from the city.
Even if a couple choose to marry in another city to avoid their parents from finding out about the marriage it wouldn’t help the cause as the marriage registrar would send a notice to the cities the couple are originally from, as per the rule.
While the debate still rages on as to whether or not a religious marriage ceremony should only be valid if the husband or wife is converted to the other’s religion, Sangavi says that all inter-caste couples have allowed “love to surpass their religion,” so it shouldn’t matter legally as well.
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