{"id":76979,"date":"2021-01-15T20:18:03","date_gmt":"2021-01-15T14:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=76979"},"modified":"2021-02-27T18:29:28","modified_gmt":"2021-02-27T12:59:28","slug":"allahabad-hc-judgment-on-special-marriage-act-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/allahabad-hc-judgment-on-special-marriage-act-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Importance of Allahabad HC judgment on Special Marriage Act"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0The Allahabad high court\u2019s recent decision to strike down the provisions of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 that make it mandatory for couples to publish a 30-day public notice of their intent to marry is a significant and much-needed correction.<\/p>\n<p><strong>About the Special Marriage Act <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The Special Marriage Act was\u00a0<\/strong>originally enacted in 1872 to provide a framework for inter-caste and inter-religious marriages.<\/li>\n<li>The Act\u00a0<strong>allows the solemnization of marriages <\/strong>(performing the public ceremony\/rites of marriage)\u00a0<strong>without any religious customs or rituals.\u00a0<\/strong>The law solemnizes marriages\u00a0<strong>by the way of registration.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>As per <strong>Section 5 of the Special Marriage Act<\/strong>, marriages irrespective of the religion of the couple require parties to give a 30-day <strong>public notice of their intention to marry<\/strong>\u00a0before solemnizing their marriage<\/li>\n<li>The provision of mandatory 30 days\u2019 notice period ended up giving\u00a0<strong>vigilante groups<\/strong>, families hostile to inter-faith and\u00a0<strong>inter-caste unions<\/strong>\u00a0with disproportionate powers to police young couples.<\/li>\n<li>The Act is\u00a0<strong>applicable to all Indian citizens<\/strong>\u00a0and<strong>\u00a0Indian nationals\u00a0<\/strong>who live\u00a0<strong>in abroad<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Allahabad High Court observed the Special Marriage Act as \u2018<strong>one of the earliest endeavours towards Uniform Civil Code<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>About the case\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Recently, in response to a writ petition filed, Allahabad High Court gave a judgment that would have far-reaching impacts.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>In its conclusion, the HC stated, though the couple wanted to marry under the\u00a0<strong>Special Marriage Act<\/strong>, the mandatory provision for 30-day notice, under section 5 of the act, compelled them to take the easier route of\u00a0<strong>religious conversion<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Thus, Section 5 acting as<\/strong> a barrier to inter-faith couples, willing to marry under the\u00a0<strong>secular SMA <\/strong>rather than taking religious conversion routes.<\/li>\n<li>On this basis, the Court\u00a0allowed couples not to publish the mandatory 30-day notice of their intention to marry.<\/li>\n<li>Also, the court allowed the individuals,\u00a0who desire to have more information about their counterparts,\u00a0to\u00a0opt for publication of notice under Section 6 of\u00a0<strong>the Act.\u00a0<\/strong>Such publication of notice under free will not be a violation of fundamental rights due to free choice.<\/li>\n<li>The court also noted that when marriages under personal law do not require a notice or invitation for objections, such a requirement for inter-faith couples\u2019 is obsolete in secular law and cannot be forced on a couple.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>As a result, many preferred to convert and marry under personal laws, rather than under the\u00a0<strong>Special Marriage Act, 1954\u00a0<\/strong>to prevent themselves from harassment<strong>.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Why the Allahabad high court\u2019s decision is regarded as a significant step?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The high court\u2019s ruling against the mandatory need for couples to publish a 30-day public notice has been praised for the following reasons,<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong>First,\u00a0<\/strong>the decision comes at the right time where<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>the anti-conversion ordinances in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have\u00a0<strong>endorsed the state intrusions on inter-personal relationships<\/strong>. \u00a0The decision will\u00a0<strong>protect the primacy of individual autonomy.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Second, the HC ruling is in line with\u00a0<strong>The Law Commission of India report in 2012<\/strong>\u00a0that recommended keeping a check on the unnecessary interference by caste assemblies in\u00a0<strong>sagotra, inter-caste or inter-religious marriages<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Third, The HC judgment <strong>reaffirms the constitutional protection to minorities\u00a0<\/strong>as even today a minuscule of the minority of marriages are, inter-faith unions.<\/li>\n<li>Fourth, it is in line with a series of landmark Supreme Court judgments that are against societal and state interference in personal affairs and firmly establishes <strong>personal liberty and privacy<\/strong>\u00a0to be fundamental. For example,<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Puttaswamy\u00a0v Union of India<\/strong>, that recognise the\u00a0<strong>right to privacy as<\/strong>\u00a0a fundamental right<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Hadiya case, <\/strong>right to choose one\u2019s partner.<\/li>\n<li>In<strong> Navtej Singh Johar<\/strong> case: The ruling that\u00a0<strong>decriminalised homosexuality.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>It will be a body blow to <strong>Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020<\/strong>\u00a0which have\u00a0provisions such as<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Declaring conversion of religion by marriage to be unlawful<\/li>\n<li>Mandating a 60-day notice to the District Magistrate<\/li>\n<li>Requiring the Magistrate to conduct a police inquiry to know the real intention behind the conversion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>As the\u00a0<strong>Special Marriage Act is a central legislation<\/strong>, couples across the country seeking to marry under the law will benefit from the liberal ruling of the provisions.<\/li>\n<li>It paves way for abolishing and cleansing obsolete\u00a0<strong>Victorian-era protectionist provisions <\/strong>in other laws as well.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Allahabad High Court judgement is a reminder and a warning that the constitution remains the bulwark against an overreaching state policy such as the anti-conversion ordinance in UP and MP.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Synopsis:\u00a0The Allahabad high court\u2019s recent decision to strike down the provisions of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 that make it mandatory for couples to publish a 30-day public notice of their intent to marry is a significant and much-needed correction. About the Special Marriage Act The Special Marriage Act was\u00a0originally enacted in 1872 to provide&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/allahabad-hc-judgment-on-special-marriage-act-2\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Importance of Allahabad HC judgment on Special Marriage Act<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":76980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130],"tags":[1572,1301,1581,1294],"class_list":["post-76979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-7-pm","tag-inter_faith_marriages","tag-po_3","tag-po_9","tag-soty_2","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Allahabad_HC_judgment_on_Special_Marriage_Act.jpg?fit=634%2C360&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1699903797},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}