Registration of Marriage (Section 8 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955) Marriage and the institution of society predate modern society. The changing structure of family, from joint to nuclear, shows it is not independent of shifts in the economy, though the family is crucial for social reproduction of labour. Since the Special Marriage Act came into force in 1954 for civil marriage, there have been moves to push for legislation to document all marriages. But these have fallen by the wayside as the majority of marriages are solemnised by religious rites and fall within the domain of different personal laws. Fortunately, some States have already taken lead in this regard. Among these are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. However, the real problem will come before States, which have miserably failed so far to prevent child marriages. Section 8 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 empowers the Governments to make rules for the purpose of registration of marriages as there are various customary forms of marriage in different communities among the Hindus and it would be difficult to prove such customary forms. Under sub-section (1) of section 8 of the Act, the parties to any marriage, may have the particulars of the marriage entered in the register. Though in subsection (2) prescribing the punishment, the words wo rds “any person” are used, where the State makes it compulsory to make entries in the register, both spouses will be liable for punishment if entries are not made. Even if the entries are made at the instance of one of the spouses only, the other spouse will not be liable for punishment. Sub-section (4) provides the legislature intended to make the marriage register a public document within the meaning of section 74 of the Indian Evidence Act and a certified copy of such public document can be produced in proof of the th e contents of the register. The same principle is adopted in this section. Sub-section (5) states that the validity of any Hindu marriage shall, in no way, be affected by the omission to make the entry in the marriage register. It follows that the State Government is not empowered to make any rule invalidating a Hindu marriage on the ground of omission to make an entry in the marriage register. As a matter of fact, it is going to be a boon in a country where marriages take place with little responsibility. There are instances of a man marrying one woman in one street and another in the next with impunity. What is, however, needed is that the procedure of registration should be made easy not complex and cumbersome as it exists today. At present for the sake of registration not only the husband and wife have to personally appear before the Registrar but
they also have to produce two witnesses, who are the respectable persons of the society. The couples have to submit the affidavit, normally prepared b y lawyers, photographs of marriage and invitation cards etc. as the proof of the marriage. This is dissuading without doubt. That is why the Supreme Court has made it clear that the registration should be made to be a facility not a penalty that too only twenty-five rupees as stipulated by sub-section (2) of section 8 of the Hindu Marriage Act which would reduce the justice to mockery. The purpose of law can be best served when the registration is made very-very simple. Cost, access, and effective communication will be the keys to success in urban as well as rural areas. The cost of registration should be nominal. Easy and hassle-free access will be facilitated if, in towns and clusters of villages, post offices in addition to sub-registrar’s offices and, in villages, village administrative officers or gram pramukhs are entrusted with the job of registration.
Advantages of Compulsory Registration of Marriage:
Mandatory registration of marriage would compel society, at large, to recognise that. It will address the problems of women like bigamous husbands, property disputes or claiming maintenance following divorce. It will certainly empower women by upholding their rights in a country where more than 60 years after independence they are still treated as second class citizens and often left destitute on the death of their husbands or after divorce. Now let us see in what way it will have salutary effect on the society. First of all, it will have an important bearing on the health of women, who get married at an early age. Marriage at early age means, reproduction of children at an age, when they are not capable of child-bearing. Once the registration of marriage becomes compulsory, the age of girl and boy has to be mentioned at the time of marriage and the pernicious practice of under-age marriage will get automatically abolished. Secondly, parents will no longer be able to sell their girl children into marriage for economic reasons or because of social compulsions e.g. this is evidenced by the fact that in Sri Lanka, after registration was made compulsory, there was a dramatic decrease in child marriage. Cases of desertion and polygamy will significantly come down and the women in vulnerable situations use the marriage certificates in courts to assert their rights as spouses. And thirdly, but most importantly it will be helpful in curbing and controlling the alarming growth of population in the country. It is an un-denying fact that once the women are married at
mature age, the period of reproduction will be less and frequency of child-bearing will get decreased. Marriages, as they say, are made in heaven and solemnised on earth. It is a sacrament (Sanskar) for Hindus, a sanctified contract for Muslims and sacrosanct knot for Christians. Husbands and wives vow for each other, yet there have been innumerable cases of betrayals by the spouses. In this context, the direction of the Supreme Court of India for compulsory registration of marriages was welcomed. Interestingly, this direction of the Apex Court came during the course of hearing of a case of divorce petition. The maintenance suit was filed by one Seema against her husband Ashwini Kumar, who had disputed her marriage with him in the absence of any documentary proof which she had failed to produce. The bench of Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S.H. Kapadia directed the governments to frame and suitably amend the rules to make the registration of marriages compulsory within three months and it would be applicable for all castes, communities and religious sects. The rules should be publicised and public should be given the opportunity to file objections if any within one month thereafter. The entire gamut of existing laws on marriage - for all communities - would remain intact and registration procedure and rules would be in addition to these. Needless to say, it was a breakthrough. It will aid dismantling of the unhealthy social edifices of child marriage and the exploitation of married women. It is bound to have far-reaching benefits. Child marriage, although prohibited by the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, still continues in many communities. The National Commission for Women (NCW) has also been demanding for making the registration mandatory. Law Commission of India under Chairmanship of Dr. Justice A. R. Lakshmanan also submitted its report titled ‘Laws on registration of marriage and divorce – A proposal for consolidation and reform vide Report no. 211 in October, 2008 and recommended for the enactment of a “Marriage and Divorce Registration Act” to be made applicable in the whole of India and to all citizens irrespective of their religion and personal law and without any exceptions or exemptions. The Rajya Sabha on 13 th August, 2013 passed a bill to make registration of marriages, irrespective of religion, mandatory under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, which currently only regulates registration of births and deaths. The amendment to the bill seeks to amend the Act to include the registration of marriages within its purview. The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2012, which was passed defines marriage to include
marriage solemnized between a male and female belonging to any caste or religion. It also includes re-marriage. Compulsory registration will, undoubtedly, drastically curtail the child marriages ensuring the girl child the right to a free and wholesome childhood and cases of desertion and polygamy will also significantly come down and the women in vulnerable situations may use the marriage certificates in courts to assert their rights as spouse.
It is suggested to go through class notes also.
