Hindu Special Marriage Litigation Terms-Thelegalbank

Hindu Special Marriage Law

The Special Marriage Act dispenses with inter-caste and inter-religion marriages. Inter caste marriage is a marriage between people of 2 different castes. The days had gone by when people did to marry wherever their parents chose to passionately. The youth now have their saying and decision and prefer to marry someone more compatible with them than marrying someone who relates to their caste or religion. It is them who have to live for the whole of their life with their partner and hence, caste or religion is not a matter of utmost concern now at all. Love is a beautiful sensation, and something like caste or religion should not weigh it up. All religions are similar, and marriage shouldn’t be a big deal amid them. We are presented on caste or religion by birth and not by choice, so why are people of the lower castes seen with shame and disdain? India is a different country, and it is a pity to see things like this occurring here. The Special Marriage Act is, therefore, a special law passed to provide for a different form of marriage by registration wherein the parties to the marriage do not have to abandon their religion.

Applicability

This knowledge is the most important for every Indian to know how they can use it. This Act covers Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists marriages. This act refers to all Indian states, excluding Jammu & Kashmir. This Act refers not only to Indian citizens who apply to different castes and beliefs but also to Indian nationals who live outside.

Requirements

Since Indians think in marriages with proper ceremonies, customs, and ceremonies that include pomp and show & extravagant celebrations, none of them is needed by the Special Marriage Act. The primary requirement under this Act for legal marriage is the consent of both parties to the marriage. If both people to the marriage are willing to marry each other, that’s enough; caste, religion, race, etc. can’t act as a barrier to their union here. For marriage below this Act, the parties must file with the district’s Marriage Registrar a declaration stating their plan to marry each other in which at least one of the people to the marriage has lived for at least 30 days before the date on which such notice is listed. After the expiry of 30 days from the date that such a report was published, the marriage is then said to be solemnized. But if any person linked to the parties objects to this marriage and the registrar finds that it is a reasonable cause of objection, in such areas he can cancel the marriage. For a valid marriage, the parties must also give their approval to the marriage before the marriage officer and three witnesses. These are the basic elements for a valid marriage under the Special Marriage Act that all Indians must know about.

Conditions for Marriage

For this special form of marriage, the requirements that must be observed are not very distinct from the requirements of other normal marriages that occur within the caste.

These are the requirements to qualify for a marriage under this Act:

1. The bridegroom needs are at least 21, and at the time of the marriage, the bride must be at least 18 years of age. This is the minimum age limit each for a boy/girl to marry. 

2. At the time of their marriage, both parties must be monogamous; i.e., they must be unmarried and at that time should not have any existing spouse. 

3. To be ready to decide for themselves, the peoples should be psychologically fit, i.e., they must be sane at the time of marriage.

4. They should not be compared to themselves through blood relationships; i.e. they should not be subjected to prevent relationships that unless act as a ground for dissolving their marriage. 

The following conditions are necessary:

DEGREES OF PROHIBITED RELATIONSHIP

i. Mother

ii. Father's widow (stepmother)

iii. Mother's mother

iv. Mother's father's widow (step-grandmother)

v. Mother's mother's mother

vi. Mother's mother's father's widow

vii. Mother's father's mother

viii. Mother's father's father's widow (step great grandmother)

ix. Father's father's widow (step grandmother)

x. Father's mother's mother

NOTICE OF INTENDED MARRIAGE

A notice has to be provided in writing in the form given below to the Marriage Officer of the District in which at least one of the people to the marriage has continued for not less than 30 days directly moving the date on which such notification was given.

PUBLICATION

The notice given is then distributed by attaching it in some conspicuous place in the office of the Marriage Officer, and before the close of thirty days from the date on which the notice was issued any person can object to the marriage that it would violate any of the requirements necessary for the marriage.

 After the expiry of 30 days from the date on which the notice was published the marriage may be celebrated.

DECLARATION AND WITNESSES

Before the marriage is solemnized the parties and 3 witnesses shall sign a statement in the form given below, and the statement shall be countersigned by the Marriage Officer.

DECLARATION MADE BY THE BRIDEGROOM

i. I, _________hereby declare as follows;

ii. Now I am unmarried (or a widower or a divorcee, as the case may be)

iii. I have completed _______ years of age.

iv. I am not related to ________ (the bride) within the degrees of prohibited relationship.

v. I am informed that, if any statement in this declaration is false, and if in making such statement I either know or believe it to be false or do not believe it to sure, I am matter to imprisonment and also to fine.

 SIGNED__________

 (BRIDEGROOM)

DECLARATION MADE BY THE BRIDE 

i. I, _________hereby declare as follows;

ii. Now I am unmarried (or a widower or a divorcee, as the case may be)

iii. I have completed_______years of age.

iv. I am not related to ________ (the bridegroom) within the degrees of prohibited relationship.

v. I am informed that, if any statement in this statement is false, and if in making such a statement I either know or believe it to be false or do not believe it to true, I am matter to imprisonment and also to fine.

 SIGNED__________

 (BRIDE)

Signed in our presence by the aboveground ________ and __________ .So far as we are aware there is no legal impediment to the marriage.

 WITNESSES

1. SIGNED____
2. SIGNED____
3. SIGNED____

 COUNTERSIGNED

 MARRIAGE OFFICER

 Dated:___day of ________200

PLACE AND FORM OF SOLEMNIZATION

The marriage may be celebrated at the office of the Marriage Officer or at such place within fair distance as the peoples may desire upon payment of such further fees as may be directed.

    The marriage may be observed in a form, which the parties may choose to adopt.

  However, no marriage is complete and necessary unless each party says to the other in the neighbourhood of the Marriage Officer and the three witnesses in any language agreed by the parties, I_______take thee________to be my legal wife (or husband)

CERTIFICATE OF MARRIAGE

After the marriage has been celebrated the Marriage Officer shall enter a record in the Marriage Certificate Book and this shall be signed by the peoples to the marriage and the 3 witnesses and this shall be possible evidence of the marriage.

REGISTRATION OF MARRIAGE Dedicated IN OTHER FORMS

Any marriage kept other than a marriage solemnized under the Special Marriage Act, 1872 or under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 may be recorded under Chapter III of the Act by a Marriage Officer if the following terms are fulfilled:

• A ceremony of marriage has been made between the people and they have been living together as husband and wife ever since
• ü Neither party has at the time of registration more than one spouse living;
• Neither party is a fool or a madman at the time of registration:
• The parties have reached the age of 21 year at the time of registration;
• The parties are not within the degrees of forbidden relationship:
• The parties have been living within the district of the Marriage Officer for not less than 30 days immediately leading the date on which the application is made to him for registration of the marriage.