Hindu-Christian marriage invalid under Hindu Act: Indian Supreme Court

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/a...w/3802261.cms/

NEW DELHI: Marriage between a Hindu and a Christian is invalid under the Hindu Marriage Act, as the Act provides for only Hindu couples to enter into a wedlock, the Supreme Court has ruled.

A Bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and Aftab Alam upheld the judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court which nullified a marriage, after the wife, Bandaru Pavani, a Hindu, claimed that her husband, Gullipilli Sowria Raj a Christian, had misled her by pretending to be a Hindu and married her at a temple.

The husband had misinformed about his social status, the wife had complained while seeking divorce.

According to the couple, Raj, a Roman Catholic Christian married Pavani on October 24, 1996, in a temple by way of exchanging of 'Thali' (sacred thread) in the absence of any representative from either side.

Subsequently, the marriage was registered on November 2, 1996 under Section 8 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

The matrimonial court rejected her plea for divorce saying the marriage was valid under the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, even if one of the parties belonged to any other faith.

However, the High Court upheld her plea and said the marriage was void as the Act postulated marriage only between Hindus, following which the husband filed the SLP in the apex court.

Dismissing the Christian husband's appeal, the apex court said Section 5 of the Act makes it clear that a marriage may be solemnised between any two Hindus if the conditions contained in the said Section were fulfilled.

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Some IMers should be aware of these laws

I'm not sure where this subject should be, but have moved it here

If the petition was dismissed it was rightly so, they should have married under the special marriage act or the non hindu should have converted for the hindu marriage act to be applicable. There is a simple ceremony conducted by any Arya Samaj priest who will convert you to be hinduised, give a new name and a certificate saying that you are a Hindu after conversion. If the guy could have produced the certificate then he could have had his marriage under the Hindu marriage act, otherwise he shoul have applied under the Special Marriage act that allows inter religion marriages to be registered.

... a new name??

We didn't have to do that... just a statement typed out (agent did it) that was witnessed by a Justice of the Peace (or the Indian equivalent) saying I was converting. That part is simple. Then you can go on and do your temple wedding and get registered... the NOT simple bit

I think, from my reading of this in a different newspaper, that the intention was to pretend to be a Hindu to get the girl to marry him, rather than to convert and properly marry as a Hindu. We do not know if the guy was aware of that possibility, though.

However it came about, we are still left with the court's judgement that the Hindu Marriage Act is for two Hindus, and that one is not enough.

Some of might have said that that was obvious anyway...

I read the same article in the newspaper this morning and was confused. So the lady wanted a divorce - but did not have to because it turned out her marriage was non-existing. The man did not want a divorce, but could not stop his wife from leaving him, as it turned out he did not marry her in the first place. My first impulse was - it was never so easy to divorce in India as for this woman. But after that I felt bad for her, as there will probably be no (financial) compensation for her also, or child support, as she has no case to make.

Just a related, but slightly off-topic question:
If two Hindus want to marry and they do not want to do it under the Hindu Marriage Act (because they want to marry as two Indians, not as two Hindus) is that possible?

Any Indian couple may marry under Civil Marriages Act. No restrictions under it, be of religion, caste, color etc.

Correct on both counts Nick.

The courts stress that the Hindu Marriage Act applies (and to be invoked) when the both the parties are Hindu is probably done with foresight. The guy (not an Hindu) here gets indirect monetary benefit in case of inheritance through her wife (from her fathers property) as per Hindu laws.

There are different personal laws for different religions (I think it was done to completely confuse everyone) and these govern the marriage laws too. So two people who are of the same religion get married under their personal law and their particular marriage act comes into force and is applicable for all future references. Each marriage law takes into account the religios beliefs of each religion. In case the two parties are from two different religion then you can get married under the special marriage act which was formulated just for the purpose and all future legalities are judged on the basis of the law.

Good for you how much did you have to pay for the agent and the judge? Normally they ask for a conversion certificate and no other agency does it except Arya Samaj.
Thankfully for me my husband had gone through the shuddhi ceremony conducted by arya samaj priest and was hinduised so we didn't have much problem though one guy at Dehradun did try to raise a question as to the validity of the certificate. But the registrar who registered the marriage didn't have any trouble but he did ask why my husband was not using his Hindu name.

In contrast with the situation under the Indian Christian Marriage Act, where one Christian is enough, but that requires the marriage to be performed by a clergyman.

... interesting contrast.

May sound like a bad joke, but seriously... how many Muslims does it take?

Wow... so he really was given a new name? That would freak me out a lot. I didn't even change my surname when I got married!

Well... we had to marry quickly (due to work visas and going overseas), which is why we went the Hindu Marriage Act way rather than the Special Marriage Act with the 30 day wait. A friend referred his yukky agent to us... who took care of everything for the hefty fee of Rs 17,000 !! It was pretty awful.. but at least everything was taken care of at the time and we didn't have to deal with anyone really. The affadavit that they typed out for me was witnessed on the day we got married. I did have to go and see the woman witnessing it though.. as I'm 13 years older than my husband (a 39 year old woman still single... eeck!! hehe) and she wanted to make sure I actually knew what I was doing That document was all we needed though. I didn't like it much.... we had no input on what was written so I am repeatedly referred to as a 'spinster' and they said I was Catholic (I'm an atheist but there is no concept of that here). Oh well... it worked in the end

Rs17,000!

Didn't I already comment on another thread that your agent must have made 16,900 out of you?!

It takes only one Muslim man if the bride is a kitabiyya (literally, a person who follows the book, but to be taken to mean a woman of the Jewish or the Christian faith, who follow either the Old or the New Testaments). Otherwise it takes two. But conversion to Islam is a very easy process without much formality.

Some sects interpret the kitabiyya rule strictly to mean that the particular church to which the person belongs must have been in existence at the time of the Prophet Mohammed. That excludes the members of the Church of England, as one lady found out in Viswalingam v. Viswalingam (http://www.ipsofactoj.com/archive/19...79(1)-014.htm), a case similar to the one reported in the press the other day where a deputy minister converted to Islam in order to contract a second marriage.

Yep .. sigh and we knew it at the time... but it's crazy here in Bombay and it seemed almost impossible without one. I would *love* to go back and do it differently. Especially since the jobs in Canada fell through 2 weeks before we were leaving and we could have taken a bit more time with it all!! grrr... Hindsight is 20/20.