Apex Court Directs Compulsory Registration Of Marriages

In a ruling, having far reaching consequences, the Supreme Court has directed that all the marriages, irrespective of religion, will be compulsorily registered. The Court gave a time of three months to the centre and the state governments to frame and notify the rules in this regard. The Court gave clear directions to incorporate the ‘consequences of non-registration’ in such rules. The Court also directed all such laws to be placed before the Court for scrutiny to ensure that the objective is not diluted at any stage. Section 8 of the Hindu Marriage Act enables the state government to make rules with regard to the compulsory registration of marriages. At present, only four states viz. Maharashtra, Gujrat, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh have rules providing for compulsory registration of marriages. The Court accepted the contention of the National Commission for Women (NCW) that non-registration of marriages affected women the most. Enumerating the benefits of the registration, NCW submitted that it would help prevent child marriages, check bigamy/polygamy, help women exercise their matrimonial rights, enable widows to claim inheritance and deter men from deserting their wives. Solicitor General G E Vahnavati, who assisted the Court as ‘amicus curiae’ received appreciation from the Court for providing valuable data regarding the laws relating to Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Parsi marriages.

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