Registration of marriage? not many really care

Registration of marriage? not many really care Anurag Sharma New Delhi, Apr 6 (PTI) It may have been made in heaven but Sanjay Dutt's much hyped wedlock with Manayata was 'unmade' in Goa with the authorities withdrawing the registration. Although the celebrity marriage kicked up a storm in the media and led to an action by the Goa government against an official, experts say non-registration does not nullify and infact, not many in the country really bother to go to the marriage registar's office. "It cannot be said that due to non-registration, a marriage is invalid. Registration of a marriage is only a formality just like registration of a child's birth or of a death, on the part of government to keep track of the numbers. Otherwise in India, lakhs of marriages take place in a year as per customary rites and rituals and the government has no data regarding such marriages," says a senior Supreme Court lawyer Ajay Gupta. Despite a Supreme Court ruling that mandates each and every marriage to be registered, lawyers claim that there is only a very small proportion of the population that actually gets it done. "Generally people who marry against the wishes of their parents or want to go to foreign countries apply for registration. In a nutshell, we could say that not more than 5 out of 100 come for registration," says Gupta. Parija P, a lawyer who specialises in divorce and related cases says, "It is wrong to say that it is mandatory for a couple to get a marriage certificate to get married. Marriage is one aspect and registration of a marriage is another aspect. It could never be said that due to non-registration, a marriage is invalid." PTI

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