Marriage and the law: India
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Adults’ right to get married
Nobody has right to interfere: SC
Dhananjay Mahapatra, February 6, 2018: The Times of India
No one, either individually or collectively, has the right to interfere in a marriage between two consenting adults, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra said on Monday.
The bench told khap panchayats not to assume the role of conscience keepers of society and said courts would go by the law and not tradition and ‘gotra’ considerations to determine legality of a marriage.
Senior advocate Narender Hooda, appearing for some khap panchayats, said khaps encouraged inter-caste and inter-faith marriages as they had permitted Haryanvi men to marry women from other states, given the skewed sex ratio in the state.
“What the khaps oppose is ‘sapinda’ or ‘sagotra’ marriage between men and women or when they are within prohibited degrees of relationship, a bar which is supported by genetic science. Marriage between close relatives has been described as a disaster genetically. Khaps try to uphold centuries of tradition and act as conscience keepers of society,” he said.
The SC bench asked, “Who has appointed you guardians of society or its conscience keeper? Do not assume that role... If a marriage is not permissible under law, there are courts to annul it. Khaps have no business determining the legality of a marriage.”
SC: Govt not taking honour killing issue seriously
The Supreme Court again said the Centre was not taking the issue seriously when additional solicitor general Pinky Anand sought two more weekstosubmitsuggestions on crimes against inter-caste, inter-faith or ‘sagotra’ marriages. Constituents of gotras are broadly defined as having descended from a common male ancestor with khaps often ruling that marriage within this community is unacceptable.
Social activist Madhu Kishwar intervened and told the court that brutal killing of couples in inter-caste or inter-faith marriages should not be referred respectably as ‘honour’ killing. “Strong action is neededtostop thesehatecrimes. Only 3% of these crimes are because of ‘sagotra’ marriage. Rest 97% is triggered by religion, caste and other issues. Takefor exampletheAnkit Saxena killing in Delhi,” shesaid.
But the court said it was not concerned with individual crimes. “We think we will constitute a high-level police officers’ committee to deal with all these law and order issues and devise a mechanism to protect couples in distress,” the bench said. “We are not concerned with khaps. But we want to makeitclear that no one, either individually or collectively, can interfere in a marriage between two consenting adults,” it added. This drew support from Anand, who said the Centre was in favour of protecting civil and fundamental rights of every individual.
The SC repeatedly reminded all about its ruling in the Nitish Katara murder case. On October 3, 2016, the SC had upheld life sentence to murder convict Vikas Singh and said, “One may feel ‘my honour is mylife’ but that does not mean sustaining one’s honour at the cost of another.”
Age of marriage
2006-06: SC’s ruling for mandatory registration of all marriages
Dhananjay Mahapatra, May 2, 2019: The Times of India
Feuding couple who led to landmark step ditches case
New Delhi:
A Delhi-based couple whose marital discord plea in the Supreme Court led to the 2006 ruling for mandatory registration of all marriages irrespective of religion is no longer interested in pursuing the case.
On the petition of one Seema, the Supreme Court on April 15, 2005, had stayed proceedings in a matrimonial suit filed by her husband Ashwani Kumar, pending before the additional district judge, Delhi. The proceedings remained stayed for the last 14 years as the SC went on a different path.
In its April 2005 order, it had said, “During the hearing of this petition, it appeared to us that in the absence of records relating to dates of marriages and parties to the marriage, problems come up which have farreaching consequences. We, therefore, request the solicitor general to consider whether government orders by way of executive instructions can be issued, on the basis of directions of this court, to various states and UTs to authorise officials specifically to keep record of marriages so that they can be placed as evidence in different proceedings if the necessity arises.” After hearing then solicitor general G E Vahanvati and counsel for states, the SC on February 14, 2006, passed a judgment saying, “We are of the view that marriages of all persons who are citizens of India belonging to various religions should be made compulsorily registrable in their respective states where the marriage is solemnised.”
It went on to issue several directions to the states and the Centre over the years and ensured that its judgment for compulsory registration of marriages was implemented. On Wednesday, a bench of CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna found that neither the original petitioner Seema nor the respondent Ashwini Kumar were present in court.
The bench said since 14 years had passed since the court stayed the divorce proceedings, “we do not know whether the parties are interested in pursuing the matter any further”.
Maharashtra standing counsel Nishant Katneswarkar informed the court that as per the records of the case and status reports filed by states, it appeared that most states had implemented the order to compulsorily register marriages.
Finding that prolonging the case, which has been pending for more than 14 years, would serve no purpose, especially when the parties to the marital discord were not interested in pursuing the petition which triggered the chain of events, the bench decided to dispose of the petition. It vacated the 14-year-old stay on proceedings in the additional district judge’s court on Ashwini Kumar’s divorce petition.
2018: 2.3% of under-18 girls married
Ambika Pandit, July 1, 2020: The Times of India
Even though the percentage of women marrying at age 21 years and above is pitched as high as 64.5% at the national level in the Sample Registration System Statistical report released by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, the data for 2018 brings to the fore a worrisome fact that the percentage of girls who were married before reaching 18 years of age was 2.3% — the legal age of marriage for a woman.
Among states the percentage of below 18-year-old married girls ranged from 0.9% in Kerala to 3.7% in West Bengal. After West Bengal the other states with highest percentage of girls married below 18 years was in Rajashtan at 3.5% and Bihar at 3.2%. In rural India, 2.6% girls were married before 18, 37.4% married between 18 to 20 years and 60% at 21 years and above. In urban areas, the girls who were married below 18 years was 1.6%, 23.2% married between 18-20 years and 75.3% married at 21 years or later. At national level, 33.2% were married between age of 18-20 years.
The data shows that the percentage of females marrying at age 21 years also varies from state to state. It was 49.1% in West Bengal to a very high 86.2% in J&K. The data also shows that at the national level, the mean age at effective marriage for females in the year 2018 is 22.3 years and varies from 21.8 years in rural areas to 23.4 years in urban areas. Among the bigger states/ UTs, the mean age varies from 20.9 years in West Bengal to 25.6 years in J&K.
In rural India, 2.6% of girls were married before 18, while in the urban areas of the country it was 1.6%, according to the Sample Registration System Statistical report
Registration
UP makes marriage registration mandatory
UP makes marriage registration must, August 2, 2017: The Times of India
The state cabinet approved the UP marriage registration rules 2017, making it mandatory for couples from all religions to get their marriages registered.
The cabinet nod comes in wake of a 2006 Supreme Court verdict which had asked the Centre and state governments to draft rules making registration of marriages compulsory , irrespective of religion and caste.
Since then, marriage registration rules have been implemented across the country barring two states, Uttar Pradesh and Nagaland. Government spokespersons Shrikant Sharma and Siddharth Nath Singh said the rules are expected to be notified in the next few days. After the notification, all marriages taking place in the state will have to be registered.
Previous state governments had desisted from making marriage registration mandatory , mainly because of apprehensions among the Muslim community . Many Muslims have objected to marriage registration on the ground that the nikahnama should not have photographs of the couple.Couples found to have not registered their marriage will be liable to pay a penalty.
Kicking daughter-in law not punishable under Section 498A, IPC
Bhaskar Lal Sharma and daughter-in-law Monica case
Dhananjay Mahapatra, Mar 24, 2010, The Times of India
The Supreme Court agreed to review its own 2009 verdict in the case between Bhaskar Lal Sharma and his daughter-in-law Monica after the NCW, through counsel Aparna Bhat, moved a curative petition requesting reconsideration. Curative petitions normally have a 99% failure rate in the apex court.
A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices S H Kapadia, Altamas Kabir and Cyriac Joseph entertained NCW’s curative petition and issued notice to both parties — Sharma and Monica. This means the curative petition will now be heard in open court for the parties to point out the anamoly in the July 27 ruling and suggest corrective measures. NCW had reflected the views of CPM leader Brinda Karat who had said the apex court’s decision — that a mother-in-law who kicks her daughter-in law or repeatedly threatens her with divorce attracts no punishment for cruelty under Section 498A of the IPC — would only “further deepen the miseries of women and undo the effect of various legislations passed for the emancipation of women”.
“Such a judicial understanding of cruelty will be a licence for domestic violence. It may also encourage wife-beaters. It will undo the positive steps taken by government to provide a just legal framework to address domestic violence,” Karat had written.
