30-day notice for interfaith marriage optional, says HC

30-day notice for interfaith marriage optional, says HC

‘Violates Right To Privacy And Liberty’

Ravi Singh Sisodiya TNN

Lucknow: 14.01.2021

The Allahabad high court’s Lucknow bench has ruled that it should be optional rather than mandatory for an interfaith couple to give 30 days’ prior notice to a marriage officer to register their wedding under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. Enforcing a notice period on the couple is tantamount to intruding on their fundamental right to privacy and liberty, it said.

“If the couple doesn’t want to go for publication of the 30-day notice, the marriage officer has to solemnise their wedding forthwith,” Justice Vivek Chaudhary said while disposing of a habeas corpus petition filed by a Hindu man married to a woman who was born Muslim but converted before the wedding.

Petitioner Abhisekh Kumar Pandey alleged that his wife, Sufia Sultana, was being held captive by her father because she converted and got married according to Hindu rituals.

With conversion plea pending, man moves HC

A 32-year-old Hindu man wanting to convert to Islam has moved the Gujarat HC for redress after being kept waiting over a year for nod to change his religion, reports Saeed Khan. Jignesh Patel, a marketing executive, said the collector had withheld nod for him to be a Muslim despite an “inquiry” cleared him. P 18

‘Law must keep evolving with time’

Justice Chaudhary based his judgment on three key observations. First, the law must keep evolving with time and societal change. Second, it shouldn’t violate anyone’s privacy, a fundamental right underscored in several orders of the SC. Lastly, when there is no provision of a 30-day notice period to get married under various personal laws, why should this be mandatory under the Special Marriage Act?

The court, however, clarified that the onus would be on the marriage officer to verify the identity, age and valid consent of the couple and their eligibility to marry under the relevant law. “In case the marriage officer has any doubt, it shall be open for him to ask for appropriate details or proof as per the facts of the case,” the court said.Responding to an earlier directive, the father of Sufiya alias Simran had produced his daughter in court. She and Abhisekh told the court that they were consenting adults who had married of their free will because they wanted to live together. Simran’s father thereafter gave his personal consent to their marriage. Full report on www.toi.in