A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of various provisions of The Special Marriage Act, 1954.
A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of various provisions of The Special Marriage Act, 1954.
The petition moved by a law student from Kerala, challenging Sections 5, 6(2), 7, 8, 9, and 10 of the 1954 legislation as being violative of Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Constitution of India. These provisions ask for making personal details of the couple intending to marry to the public.
Section 5 of the Act requires that a notice of intended marriage is given by the parties to the Marriage Officer of the district where at least one of the parties to the marriage has resided for a period of not less than thirty days immediately preceding the date on which such notice is given.
Section 6 mandates that all such notices received shall be entered in the marriage notice book and the Marriage Officer shall publish a notice by affixing a copy thereof.
These provisions require parties to a marriage to publish their private details, open for public scrutiny, before 30 days of the intended marriage. The provisions also allow anyone to submit objections to the marriage and empower the Marriage Officer to inquire into such objections.
Petition states: “These provisions violate the fundamental rights of the couple intending to marry, depriving of their right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution of India”
Also:
“Marriage reflects a private decision taken by two consenting adults and the SMA was formulated to provide a secular form of marriage. By making the personal details of the couple accessible to everyone, the very right of the couple to be the decision-makers of their marriage is being hampered by the State.”
The petition contends that the requirement of notice before marriage is absent in the Hindu Marriage Act and Shariat law in Islam. Therefore the said provisions are also discriminatory and violative of Article 14 of the constitution of India.
Also by giving up personal details of an individual’s open to public scrutiny seriously damage one’s right to have control over her or his personal information and its accessibility. The provisions also violate the three-pronged test of proportionality as laid down by the Supreme Court in KS Puttaswamy v. Union of India.
Further, it is averred that publication of personal details often might have a chilling effect on the right to marry.
“In other words, couples are asked to waive the right to privacy to exercise the right to marry. This infringes the rights of autonomy, dignity and the right to marry, of various couples,” says the plea.
