Hans India: New Delhi: Tuesday,
August 16, 2016.
A mother
wanted copies of rules/ procedures, competence of witnesses and fee for
registration of marriages, documents to be submitted for registration of marriages
and rules/ office order which show no requirement for sending notice of
intended marriage to parents of girl before registration. The purpose of RTI
lies in the last point, whether parents have right to information about the
choice and date of the marriage of their sons/ daughter?
The appellant
had raised concern about young girls and boys getting married without informing
their parents. According to her, some of the parents are denied their right to
information about the marriage of their sons and daughters. She says: “When
parents bring up their children with love and care and take all possible steps
for the welfare of child, giving custody, supervision, physical and
psychological protection, health and safety, education etc. their relationship
does not cease on children attaining majority age.
Parental
authority still subsists and they should have a right to know their choice of
marriage; the parents apprehend the repercussions of immature decisions,
incapacity to distinguish love from fraud, leading to serious troubles to their
children, their marriage and families. Why should not parents be informed about
proposed registration of marriages of their children about their selection of
life-partner?”
There is
merit in this contention. Generally notice is an essential aspect of procedure
for marriage under the Special Marriages Act, 1954. Registration serves both
the purposes - as a notice to the society in general about proposed marriage
and then as a proof of marriage, without necessitating parties to procure
evidence for ceremonies of marriage to prove it in court of law. There are
several kinds of marriages as per ancient customs and practices.
They are:
“Brahmo Daivastha Daivaarshah Gaandharvo Rakshasaschaiva Paishacha
Asthamotthamaha”. 1. Brahmam: when parents invite a knowledgeable and good
groom and gift the bride (Eg. Shanta & Rishyashringa). 2. Daivam: Gifting a
bride to Rithwik in a Yagna. 3. Aarsham: If parents take couple of cows from
tapasvi groom and gift bride: 4. Praajapatyam: If parents advise bride and
groom to practice dharma together. (Eg. Lord Ram and Seetha). 5. Asuram: If one
takes money from groom and gives bride (Kaikeyi was given like this to
Dasarath) 6. Gaandharvam: If groom and bride love each other and marry without
following any mantra procedure. Eg. Shakuntala and Dushyanth). 7.
Raakshasam:
Winning a war and taking bride to a distant place and marrying her (Eg Raavan
wages a war, and takes Mandodari). 8. Paishacham: Snatching a girl while asleep
to marry. Among these methods, Brahmam is considered the best, Praajapathyam is
as per Dharma and the prohibited forms are Raakshasam and Paishacham. Modern
love marriages are akin to Gaandharva marriages.
The marriage
being a significant turning point in life, the partners and their parents
should be assured of fair, honest and valid marriage contracts to be executed
for peaceful marital life. Especially when fraudulent marriages are increasing,
including where NRI partners are involved, the state and law has to ensure
proper registration of legal marriages with sufficient notices.
Notice is
necessary to prevent marriage between persons in degrees of prohibited
relationship, bigamous marriages, i.e., while a spouse is living without
obtaining valid divorce, marriages without valid consent (not having age of
giving valid consent), with person of insanity, or persons not attaining
prescribed marriageable age etc.
If one of the
parties has a spouse living, the notice about marriage of that party will
enable such spouse, or any other person having knowledge about existence of
spouse or sustenance marriage or relationship or agreement to marry to raise
objection. The notice should be real and effective. If it is confined to a
corner of the office of the Registrar of Marriages, its reach may not be
sufficient and wide.
In arranged
marriages, invitation card is in fact, a ‘notice’, Ceremonies and Baarath are
declaration of valid wedlock relationship and thus a form of an effective
notice and also registration. The available IT shall be used to give wide reach
to the notice of marriage through the web-publication.
Any couple,
whether Indian, NRI, or a foreigner who wants to marry in India has to either
perform religious marriage ceremony or civil marriage registration. Even if the
marriage is celebrated under the Hindu Marriage Act, Muslim Marriage Act,
Christian Marriage Act or Parsee Marriage and Divorce Act. Such marriage is a
legally valid marriage but it need to be registered compulsorily. For visa and
immigration purposes a marriage certificate from the Registrar of Marriages is
a requirement.
If groom and
bride belong to different religions or countries, they have to marry under the
Special Marriage Act, 1954. Those, who do not like to perform religious
marriages, may prefer it under the Special Marriage Act. The 30-day notice is
required to be given in India, if one partner is permanently and other partner
is temporarily residing in India. Marriages between Indian and foreign national
also need to be registered under this Act.
If one
partner is residing in foreign country, the ‘Marriage Notice’ form has to be
filled by the partner in India and also partner in foreign country, which has
to be resubmitted by partner in India to Registration office. Parties need to
submit valid documents like passport, birth certificate, death certificate of
deceased spouse, if one party is widower, and if one is divorced, copy of the
final decree of divorce, besides documentary evidence of stay in India for more
than 30 days (either ration card or report from the SHO concerned) need to be
furnished.
For instance,
if an American citizen wishes to wed in a civil marriage ceremony he may be
required to present to the marriage officer a ‘no objection letter’ from the US
Embassy or Consulate, as well as proof of termination of any previous marriage,
if any.
Under the
Section 5 of Special Marriage Act, 1954, there is a provision for giving notice
of intended marriage leaves enough scope for raising any challenge to a
proposed marriage to be brought within specified period from date of notice,
which needs to be affixed on notice board of the office of Sub-Divisional
Magistrate in whose jurisdiction marriage is to be solemnised. The Section 9
gives power to inquire into the complaints, by summoning, requiring evidence in
affidavits etc.
Giving
notice, receiving objections, inquiring and deciding on objections is the
judicial process and thus Marriage Officers have to give reasoned orders, and
those reasons should be informed to the affected persons as per the RTI Act.
Before registration of marriage, officer has to rule out illegality of the
marriage based on objections and should register marriage only if it is legal.
Thus, besides the Special Marriage Act, this obligation of informing the people
in general is further fortified by the Right to Information Act, 2005,
especially section 4(1)(b).
The state has
a duty to prevent fraudulent or sham marriages or those between non-permissible
relationships, or void or voidable marriages. He hoped that greater
transparency by issuing a widely published notice of marriages under the
Special Marriage Act will help young couple to avoid these risks.
If not
issuing direct notices to the parents of proposed couples, the cyber notice on
official website of the office of Registration of Marriages is within the
procedure prescribed by law. At the same time, the state has a higher
responsibility to protect the couple from ‘honour killings’, Khap Panchayats,
on ego issues, and religious diktats like fatwas.
The CIC u/s
19(8)(a)(iv) of RTI Act, required public authority -the Marriage Officers/
SDMs, to ensure wide reach to the mandatory notices, by placing the same in the
official website, in an easily accessible link, highlighting under the title of
‘marriage registration notices’ as that is mandatory duty of public authorities
under Section 4(1)(d), to facilitate the interested persons (including parents
or guardians) to know and raise objections, if any, to safeguard the interests
of the partners to the proposed marriage. (Based on CIC decision on 1.8.2016 in
CIC/ SA/A/2016 /001556 Shashi v SDM (Civil Lines)
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