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Compulsory Registration of Marriages
By Raghavendra Rao of Poornaprajna Cyber Quest
Marriages are made in heaven but performed on earth. In India, marriage is an important sacred event – in fact a turning point – in one’s life. Marriage fosters two families for life time. It is regarded as a social institution and rightly not as a legal contract. Marriages are made in heaven but broken on earth. Divorce is increasing in India for various reasons most importantly for dowry and misunderstanding between the couple. A woman brings up family and continuity of mankind. Peaceful co-existence of husband and wife is essential for a meaningful living. Their relationship should not be allowed to break down. Therefore, it is necessary that tendency of divorce be curbed. Hindu tradition adopts ‘one man – one woman’ theory. Marrying two or more wives while the first one is alive is not in the interest of the family and the society. Bigamy and polygamy are offences under the Indian law. If not officially, bigamy and polygamy are practiced secretly. Traditional marriages in India are conducted without documentation. Disputable wedding invitation cards, photographs or video coverage are the only evidence in Indian traditional marriages. Poorer section would not even afford photographs or video coverage. Lack of paper documentation hits poor section of the society in the event of difficulties. Registration of marriage is an easy solution for all section of people. The Law Commission of India headed by its Chairman Dr. Justice A. R. Lakshmanan in its Report No. 211 has proposed a national law on registration of marriage and divorce. It addresses the mounting cases of divorce, bigamy and polygamy. The Supreme Court of India had even issued a directive for mandatory registration of marriages. Marriage and divorce is listed at Sl. No. 5 of List III – Concurrence List of Seventh Schedule in the Constitution of India which means that both the Centre and the States could enact laws on the subject. As a result of this many states have their own law on marriage and divorce differing from state to state. The proposal of the Law Commission of India paves the way for a uniform central legislation with powers for each state to frame rules under the central legislation to suit local situations. Compulsory registration of marriages has advantages to the people of India. Certain ills of the society could be cured. Child marriages prevalent especially in North India could be checked. Bigamy and polygamy cold be detected and offenders punished. If stringent punishments are included in the proposed legislation for compulsory registration of marriages, instances of bigamy and polygamy would get reduced considerably. Proposed legislation ensures a woman’s inheritance of her husband’s property. It would not be easy for men to walk out of wedlock if his marriage is registered. A woman has better chances of claiming maintenance alimony or inheritance of property in the event of break down of marriage or death of her husband. If not all, many problems of women could be either prevented or solved if registration of marriage is made mandatory. Parliament should take care to see that registration process is simple and free. The legislation should contain severe punishment sufficient enough for offenders to desist from committing such an offence. The parliament would do better to stipulate that disputes connected with marriages or divorces would not be entertained by courts if they are not duly registered as is the case with the documents required to be registered under the Registration Act, 1908. Unregistered documents (if they are required to be registered under the Registration Act) would not be considered in evidence in courts of law. The proposal of Law Commission of India for legislation to make mandatory the registration of marriages and divorce is a welcome step and works in the interest of civilized society.
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