Hindu Marriage. India and Abroad.

Marsans was instructed by a firm of solicitors to provide expert legal opinion on Hindu marriage laws in India.

The queries raised range from the requirements for a valid Hindu marriage and to advice on complex issues pertaining to management of the assets in India of a couple living in the United Kingdom going through a matrimonial dispute.

Marsans provided an expert opinion on these issues which is used as evidence before a court in England and Wales.

The following are the most common issues on which our advice was sought:

1. Whether the marriage was validly solemnised in India?
2. Whether the client’s assets based in India are likely to be included in the financial settlement reached in UK?
3. Whether one party to the dispute can initiate a legal proceeding in India and obtain an order without giving the other party living in the United Kingdom being represented?

This is the first of a series of articles in which we examine these issues. It explains the requirements for a valid Hindu marriage and a civil marriage under the relevant laws in India.

Hindu Marriage

The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (‘Act’) sets out the legal requirements for a Hindu marriage and the grounds on which a divorce can be applied for and obtained. This Act applies uniformly throughout India.

Under the Act, the mandatory requirements for a Hindu marriage are that:

1. Both parties should be Hindus at the time of the marriage. For the purposes of the Act, the category ‘Hindu’ includes followers of other religions such as Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism. There are other religions and sects to which the courts in India might extend the Act, depending on the marriage ceremony that was followed.
2. Neither of the parties should have a living spouse (from any earlier relationship) at the time of the marriage.
3. Both parties should be competent to give valid consent to the marriage.
4. The parties should not be closely related to each other and the Act classifies a ‘prohibited relationship’, for example siblings or near cousins.
5. The marriage must be solemnised and deemed complete by a religious marriage ceremony. Thus, for example, where the ceremony includes the Saptapadi (that is, the taking of seven steps by the bridegroom and the bride jointly before the sacred fire), the marriage becomes complete and binding when the seventh step is taken.
6. Marriages that were conducted after the year 2006 must be registered.

The Act also provides specific grounds for invalidating or voiding a Hindu marriage that may need to be considered on a case-by-case basis, such as impotency or non-disclosure of a pre-existing venereal disease.

Civil Marriage

Civil marriages in India are mostly inter-faith and/or inter–religion marriages, and are governed by the Special Marriage Act, 1954. A civil marriage does not require the performance of a religious ceremony and is performed by a Government-appointed Marriage Registrar. The marriage is conducted by the endorsement of both parties’ signatures on a register maintained by the Marriage Registrar who issues a certificate of marriage as evidence that the marriage had taken place.

In concluding, it may also be helpful to note that marriage certificates from foreign jurisdictions can be recognised in India, thus eliminating the need to re-register a marriage conducted overseas.