NEW DELHI: The government of India on Thursday approved a decision to make it compulsory for all couples to register their marriage irrespective of which religion one belongs to. The decision will now have to be approved by both the upper and lower Houses of Representatives – the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha respectively. The government has proposed to “amend the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 to include registration of marriages as well, so that the existing administrative mechanisms will be able to carry out such registration of marriages in accordance with the specified procedures and be able to maintain necessary records and statistics for registration of marriages also.” The amendments once passed are expected to make it easier for inter-faith marriages as well as save women from unnecessary harassment in matrimonial and maintenance cases. The decision of the government comes after the Supreme Court had directed the State Governments and the Central Government to ensure that marriages of all persons who are citizens of India belonging to various religious denominations should be made compulsorily ‘register able' in their respective States where such marriages are solemnized. “The proposed Bills will be beneficial for the women from unnecessary harassment in matrimonial and maintenance cases. It will also provide evidential value in the matters of custody of children, right of children born from the wedlock of the two persons whose marriage is registered and the age of the parties to the marriage,” the Press Information Bureau of the government said in a release. The Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 already has in its ambit mechanisms to provide for the regulation of registration of births and deaths and has an existing establishment like the Registrar-General, Chief Registrar and Registration Division, District Registrars and Registrars laid down procedures for registration as well as of maintenance of records. These will now be used to additionally register marriages. Earlier women who were deserted by their husbands had no legal recourse if their marriage was not legally registered.
