In the eyes of law marriage is socio legal approval to a couple to live together and start a family. In India marriages are legally registered, here marriage can be registered under two acts, (a) the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and (b) Special Marriage Act, 1954.
According to Hindu marriage act marriage is considered as a sacrament i.e. marriage is a sacred union and cannot be broken at will. There are different beliefs and different notion about marriages in various religions but according to marriages registered under Hindu Marriage Act, marriage is a sacrament and cannot be broken at will. The minimum age requirement for male is 21 years and for female is 18 years.
Procedure to Register a Marriage under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 :-
The Parties to marriage have to apply to the concerned authority in whose jurisdiction marriage is completed or the either parties to the marriage are residing.Application form of the marriage is to be accompanied by 2 photographs of the marriage ceremonies, 2 passport size photographs each of both the spouses, invitation card of the marriage, age and address proof of both the parties, affidavit of notary to prove the couple is married under Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
Both the parties have to accompany their parents or guardians or other witnesses to the office of Marriage Registrar within one month from the date of marriage.
The Competent Authority for registering marriage is Registrar/Tehsildar of the district, where application has been filled.
The registration done under Hindu marriage act does not require any notice; it can be done on the same day of filling of application.After the due process of law the registration will be completed and couple will receive the marriage certificate which will be the proof of marriage.It is preferred to get marriage registered in the Hindu marriage Act as filling for divorce is quite easy here, compared to special marriage act.
CONCLUSION :-
Registering one’s marriage is now common among Indian couples today than earlier days. But it is still not a norm to many couples. Our country does not values marriage certificates because our culture have a vast number of rituals. These rituals varies from place to place and families to families. Even the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, recognizes customary or ritualistic marriages as legitimate. If the customary or ritualistic marriages are not registered with a state body, it becomes tougher for spouses. The Law Commission’s Report of July 2017, to the law ministry recommends to make marriage registration compulsory for couples of all communities across the country within 30 days of the wedding, proposing a fine of Rs. 5 per day for any delays after that . The National Commission for Women has pointed out that registration of marriage has critical importance to various women related issues, such as prevention of child marriage, bigamy, maintenance to wives etc. It is explicitly laid down in the Act that non-registration does not affect the validity of marriage, thus marriage can be valid without registration.
