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Marriage registration to become compulsory: Supreme Court

MARRIAGES IN India would now need to be registered by people of all religions and in all states as per a Supreme Court order, on Thursday (October 25).

A Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat, directed all states and union territories to come up with a proper legislation within three months making registration of marriages compulsory.

The Bench has also asked the states and Union territories to file a compliance report along with a deadline after the deadline of three months.

Compulsory registration of marriages in India, experts opine is the need of the hour and would go a great way in reducing the crime against women, particularly it would check the cases of Non-resident Indians (NRIs) duping Indian girls.

Supreme Court Lawyer Vikas Upadhyaya, while talking to merinews, said that this judgement would prove very beneficial in cases where NRIs dupe the local women.

He said that without proper documentation it is very difficult to prove the marriage in courts abroad.

Many of times Indian women are forced to live like domestic helps as they do not have the legal documents to prove that they have been tricked.

“Registering the marriages will help in cases of bigamy also as the men and women, both will have certificates to prove their point”, said Upadhyaya.

It is to be noted that a large number of Indian girls, particularly in Punjab and other north Indian states are quite eager to marry outside and migrate to foreign shores. However, there have been an increasing number of cases in which NRI men and even women have abandoned Indian spouses and left them in lurch.

The Nation Commission for Women (NRIs) in order to push for making marriage registration a compulsory step had proposed the draft bill ‘Compulsory Registration of Marriage Act 2005’.

In this act the commission has recommended for the enactment of a uniform law relating to marriages, providing for compulsory registration of marriages.

The aim of the law was preventing child marriages and also polygamy in the society and the Bill was prepared cutting across religion and region.

Welcoming the decision of the Supreme Court, Pallavi Sharma, a psychologist, who has worked with a number of women with failed marriages with NRIs, said that it is necessary that the marriages are registered and the hapless girls have some proof in their hands.

She recalled several incidences where women married by NRIs were abandoned even before they could go abroad, after a short honeymoon in India. In several cases, she said women, who managed to go abroad were beaten, brutalised, harassed and mistreated, which forced them to escape and seek divorce.

“I hope that the Supreme Court decision will have some positive effect on this problem,” she added.

Abhishek Behl, Merinews, 25 October 2007, Thursday