New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a public interest writ petition for a declaration that the Canon Law is the personal law of Indian Christians and that a decree of dissolution of marriage granted by an ecclesiastical court is valid and binding.
The petition also challenges the jurisdiction of criminal courts in India, to prosecute Roman Catholics under Section 494 of the Indian Penal Code for the alleged offence of bigamy without considering the Canon Law.
A Bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud expedited the hearing of the PIL after hearing senior counsel Soli Sorabjee and Additional Solicitor General Neeraj Kishan Kaul for the Centre, opposing the petition. The Chief Justice asked the counsel to furnish a list of persons facing prosecution in various courts and expedited the hearing.
According to the 84-year-old petitioner, Clarence Pais, who was former president of the Catholic Association of Dakshina Kannada in Karnataka, the issue affects over one crore citizens “who are Indian Christians/Catholics governed by the Code of Canon Law both regarding marriage and its dissolution.”
