Allahabad HC strikes down provisions of Special Marriage Act
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Lucknow, Jan 20: Allahabad HC has ruled that couples planning to marry under Special Marriage Act will be provided with a choice to whether or not to publish thirty-day notice before registering their marriage, unlike the prior conditions when it was mandatory to register thirty days before marriage. According to the recent judgement, the provisions of the act like that of putting a prior notice that provides the details of the bride and groom invades their privacy. invade the fundamental rights of liberty and privacy.
The Special Marriage Act, 1954 is an act that was enacted to provide special form of marriage in certain cases. This includes validating and registering inter-religious and inter caste marriages. The three main objectives of Special Marriage act are to provide registration for certain special marriages, to provide special form of marriage in certain cases and to provide divorce. The Act is applicable to any person irrespective of his or her religion and also to all the Indians living abroad.
The Special Marriage Act does not demand rites or ceremonies, rather it is a civil contract. Both the parties signing the contract have to file a notice of intended marriage to the Marriage Registrar of the district. In this, one of the parties should have resided in the district for not less than thirty days. After thirty days of such notice and if the marriage is not objected by any person, then the marriage may be solemnized. This formality of thirty-day notice has been cancelled by the Allahabad HC under the Special Marriage Act, 1954.
The important conditions under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 are that the marriage should be monogamous for both the partners, the bride should have attained the age of 18 years and the groom should be at least 21 years old and that both the parties should be competent in regard to their mental capacity to give consent for the marriage.