The Bombay High Court on Friday granted six-weeks’ time to the Maharashtra government to respond to a plea by a Sikh couple, seeking direction to the Maharashtra government to frame and notify rules under the Anand Marriage Act, 1909, so that they can register their marriage under it.
The lawyer couple said the 1909 law gives legality and sanctity to the marriage ceremony among Sikhs, known as Anand Karaj. The law was amended in 2012 and each state is allowed to formulate its own rules under the Act. A division bench of Justices S V Gangapurwala and R N Laddha was hearing a writ plea by the lawyer couple, Amritpal Singh Khalsa and his wife Satvinder Kaur. They submitted that at least 10 states in the country, including Delhi, Punjab, Kerala, Assam, and Rajasthan, have implemented the Act and notified the rules. However, the Maharashtra government is yet to do so even 10 years after the amendment was made into a law.
The plea filed by a lawyer couple reads, “The Sikhs in Maharashtra, despite having a separate legislation for registration of their marriages under the Anand Marriage Act, are forced to register marriage under the Hindu Marriage Act.” Khalsa said he got married in October last year by performing Anand Karaj at a gurudwara in Aurangabad and wanted to get his marriage registered under the Act.
The plea added, “The non-registration of Sikh marriages in the state of Maharashtra under the Anand Marriage Act, 1909, is adversely affecting couples professing the Sikh religion by infringing Article 14 and further infringing their freedom of professing and practising a religion which is protected under Article 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India.”
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The plea further claimed registration of marriage falls within their rights under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution about forming a marital union, expressing their unity, and living with dignity. It also added that while Article 29 of the Constitution provides the right to conserve culture, as the rules are notified in the state, the same causes difficulty to the petitioners.
The plea sought court direction to the Maharashtra government to notify rules under the 1909 Act and to register the petitioners’ marriage under the said law.
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/bombay-hc-seeks-state-response-to-plea-by-sikh-couple-seeking-implementation-of-anand-marriage-act-8209308/
