Anand Marriage Act: Bombay HC asks government, marriage registrar to file replies

The Bombay High Court on Friday asked the Maharashtra Government and Marriage Registrar to file their replies to a plea filed by a Sikh lawyer couple seeking that the government be directed to frame and notify rules under the Anand Marriage Act, 1909, so they can register their marriage under it.

A division bench of Justices SV Gangapurwala and RN Laddha asked the government and Marriage Registrar to file its reply in six weeks. The HC has kept the plea for a hearing on November 30.

According to the plea by Satvinder Kaur and Amritpalsingh Khalsa, despite separate legislation for the registration of Sikh marriages under the Anand Marriage Act, the community in Maharashtra is forced to register marriages under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

The couple married on October 24, 2021, by performing Anand Karaj at a gurudwara in Aurangabad. As per their plea, this is “adversely affecting couples” professing Sikh religion by infringing their rights to equality, and life and to conserve culture and also their freedom to profess and practice religion.

The Act was enacted in 1909 and amended in 2012 by incorporating section 6, which required each state to formulate their own rules. It has been submitted in the petition that at least 10 states, including Delhi, Punjab, Kerala, Assam and Rajasthan, have implemented the Act but the Maharashtra government is yet to formulate rules for the same. “The State of Maharashtra for the past ten years has failed to notify the rules,” adds the plea.