NEW DELHI, June 3: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to accept legal validity of the marriage certificates issued by the Arya Samaj and commented that the organisation had no business to issue marriage certificates which was the job of the government authorities.
Arya Samaj is a Hindu reformist organization established by Swami Dayanand Saraswati in 1875.
A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and BV Nagarathna said the work and jurisdiction of Arya Samaj was not to issue marriage certificates. “Only competent authorities can issue marriage certificates. Bring the original certificate before the court,” the bench said.
The court’s observations came while hearing a petition against a person charged with kidnapping and rape of a minor girl in Madhya Pradesh. The accused, however, claimed that the girl was a major and had married him in her free will and that they were married at the Arya Samaj Mandir in MP.
The girl’s family members had lodged the FIR against the young man accusing him of kidnapping and raping their daughter, stating that she was a minor. The girl’s family registered a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and under section 5(L)/6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act which deals with aggravated penetrative sexual assault.
The young man, in his petition, had said the girl was an adult and that she had decided to get married of her own free will and right. The marriage took place in Arya Samaj Mandir.
The man also presented the marriage certificate issued by the Central Bharatiya Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, which the Supreme Court refused to accept.
In this case, the Supreme Court had on April 4 agreed to hear a petition challenging the order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The bench of Justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy also stayed the operation of the MP high Court’s asking asked the Madhya Bharat Arya Pratinidhi Sabha to incorporate certain relevant provisions of the Special Marriage Act, 1954, to their guidelines within a month while solemnising marriages.
The Allahabad High Court had recently issued an order asking for inquiry into the marriage certificates issued by a “pradhan” of an Arya Samaj temple.
(Manas Dasgupta)