The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Union government on a petition by an interfaith couple seeking to do away with the provision of inviting objection from public while applying for marriage registration under the Special Marriage Act (SMA).
A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan also issued notice to the Delhi government on the petition.
The duo, who are currently housed at an NGO here, seek their marriage to be registered immediately.
All marriages done under the SMA require publication of the names of the couple for inviting objections from the public for 30 days. Within this period, anyone can object to the marriage on the ground that it would contravene one or more of the conditions specified in section 4 of the SMA.
Some of the conditions include that neither party has a spouse living; either of them is of unsound mind, incapable of giving a valid consent; and the male has completed the age of 21 and the female the age of 18.
The petition stated that the 30-day gestation period was not warranted as the same objective could be mitigated on the basis of certificates issued by government hospitals and on the basis of an undertaking by them.
The question with regard to whether either party had a living spouse could arise in other religious marriage also, but they were exempted from the 30-day notice period, advocate, Utkarsh Singh, for the couple, argued.
Quashing of sections
The petition sought to quash section 6 and 7 of the SMA, which mandate the publication of the public notice, on the ground that it was unreasonable and arbitrary.
It claimed that the law commission had urged a reduction of this period to bring the procedure in line with all other personal laws, where registration under the Hindu Marriage Act could be attained in a day and signing of a ‘Nikahnama’ also conferred the status of husband and wife on a couple immediately.
“The 30-day period offers an opportunity to the kin of a couple to discourage an inter-caste or inter-religion marriage”, it said.
The 28-year-old man, belonging to the Hindu religion, was working in a pharmacy firm in Delhi, while the 26-year-old woman from the Muslim religion is pursuing her B.Ed. They met during graduation from Delhi University in 2011.
Mr. Singh said that his clients’ inter-religion relationship had led to various difficulties, with resistance from their respective parents.
During the lockdown, when parents of the woman started finding a match for her, the pair decided to marry on their own. “The petitioners applied for solemnising their marriage under the SPA, but under the fear if consequences of public notice that may arise in 30 days, they opted out of it”, the petition said.
Later as the situation in the house of the woman got worse, the twosome moved to a house provided by NGO Dhanak of Humanity. The petition stated that they had reapplied for marriage under the SPA as they did not want to change their religion or names for the sake of marriage.
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