Dear Querist,
Please be further adviced as follows:
Under Hindu Marriage Act, the bridegroom should be the age of 21 years and bride of 18 years.
Since both are Hindus, they dont need to be married under Special Marriage Act.
Thereafter, registration under this Hindu Marriage Act requires a number of documents to be furnished. Such documents must be attested by a Gazetted Officer and all the documents are verified on the date of application. After that, a day is fixed and communicated to the parties for registration. On the day so fixed, both parties along with a Gazetted Officer who attended their marriage meet the SDM. Generally, the marriage certificate is issued on the same day or within a few days.
Secondly, you may also note that a desire to get married the traditional way attracts young NRI Indian couples to tie the knot in India, but the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) may not be applicable to them if they are domicile of a foreign country, according to a recent case pronouncement, although in a different context, the Bombay High Court has said that the HMA cannot apply to an estranged couple who were domiciled in the US, observing that the HMA itself does not apply to the couple consequent upon their domicile in the US and also because the rights between the parties have been settled by a judgment conclusive between them.
But this is not law as such which is binding upon the prospective parties to marriage. They may, as advised above, get married as per Hindu rituals & customs and then, get their marriage registered.
Trust this would suffice.
Rabin Majumder
Advocate & Attorney
For Nu.Delhi.Law.Fora
New Delhi