The Supreme Court Bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Bela M. Trivedi on August 29 dismissed a writ petition challenging the Constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Special Marriage Act (SMA), 1954 under which couples seek refuge for inter-faith and inter-caste marriages.
Key points
- The writ petition has called these provisions violative of the right to privacy guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution as they require couples to give a notice of 30 days before the date of marriage inviting objections from the public.
- The writ petition filed by counsels K. R. Sripathi and Anupama Sripathi and advocate on record Sriram Parakkat has also said that the provisions contravene Article 14 on prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste and sex as well as Article 15 on right to equality as these requirements are absent in personal laws.
Provisions challenged
- Section 5 of the SMA requires couples getting married under it to give a notice to the Marriage Officer 30 days before the date of marriage.
- The writ seeks striking down of provisions that follow in Section 6 to Section 10.
- Section 6 requires such a notice to be then entered into the Marriage Notice Book maintained by the Marriage Officer.
- Section 7 provides the process for making an objection such as if either party has a living spouse, is incapable of giving consent due to unsoundness of mind or is suffering from mental disorder resulting in the person being unfit for marriage or procreation.
- Section 8 specifies the inquiry procedure to be followed after an objection has been submitted.
Concerns
- These public notices have been used by anti-social elements to harass couples getting married.
- There have been instances, where marriage officers have gone over and beyond the law and sent such notices to the parents of the couple.
- Many also complain about the behaviour of the staff at the SDM’s office who often delete or delay applications and dissuade couples from marrying under SMA and ask them to convert at a Arya Samaj temple.
(Source: The Hindu)
