Hindu marriage invalid without customary rituals: Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: Observing that a Hindu marriage is a sacred process and not a “song and dance” and “wining and dining” event, the Supreme Court has held that customary rituals and ceremonies prescribed under the Hindu Marriage Act must be assiduously, strictly and religiously followed, failing which a marriage would be declared invalid even after it has been registered.

A SC bench said Section 7 of the Act lists ‘ceremonies of a Hindu marriage’, which have to be complied with for validity of the marriage and if it is not done, then the marriage is not deemed valid in the eye of the law. Section 7 says a Hindu marriage may be solemnised by the customary rites and ceremonies of either party thereto.

A Hindu marriage is not an event for “song and dance”, “wining and dining” or a commercial transaction, the Supreme Court has observed and said it cannot be recognised in the “absence of a valid ceremony” under the Hindu Marriage Act. A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Augustine George Masih said a Hindu marriage is a ‘samskara’ and a sacrament which has to be accorded its status as an institution of great value in Indian society.

In its recent order passed in the matter of two trained commercial pilots, who sought a divorce decree without performing a valid Hindu marriage ceremony, the bench urged young men and women to “think deeply about the institution of marriage even before they enter upon it and as to how sacred the said institution is, in Indian society”.

“A marriage is not an event for ‘song and dance’ and ‘wining and dining’ or an occasion to demand and exchange dowry and gifts by undue pressure leading to possible initiation of criminal proceedings thereafter. A marriage is not a commercial transaction. It is a solemn foundational event celebrated to establish a relationship between a man and a woman who acquired the status of a husband and wife for an evolving family in future which is a basic unit of Indian society,” the bench said.

Terming marriage as sacred as it provides a lifelong, dignity-affirming, equal, consensual and healthy union of two individuals, the bench said a Hindu marriage facilitates procreation, consolidates the unit of family and solidifies the spirit of fraternity within various communities.

“We deprecate the practice of young men and women seeking to acquire the status of being a husband and a wife to each other and therefore purportedly being married, in the absence of a valid marriage ceremony under the provisions of the (Hindu Marriage) Act such as in the instant case where the marriage between the parties was to take place later,” the bench said.

In its April 19 order, the bench said where a Hindu marriage is not performed by the applicable rites or ceremonies such as ‘saptapadi’ (taking seven steps by the groom and the bride jointly before the sacred fire), the marriage will not be construed as a Hindu marriage.

“We further observe that a Hindu marriage is a sacrament and has a sacred character. In the context of saptapadi in a Hindu marriage, according to Rig Veda, after completing the seventh step (saptapadi) the bridegroom says to his bride, ‘With seven steps we have become friends (sakha). May I attain to friendship with thee; may I not be separated from thy friendship’. A wife is considered to be half of oneself (ardhangini) but to be accepted with an identity of her own and to be a co-equal partner in the marriage,” it said. In Hindu Law, marriage is a sacrament or a ‘samskara’ and it is the foundation for a new family, the bench noted, and said, “There is nothing like a “better-half” in a marriage but the spouses are equal halves in a marriage.”

Observing that with the passage of centuries and the enactment of the Act, monogamy is the only legally approved form of relationship between a husband and a wife. “The (Hindu Marriage) Act has categorically discarded polyandry and polygamy and all other such types of relationships. The intent of the Parliament is also that there should be only one form of marriage having varied rites and customs and rituals,” it said

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