Registration of Marriage

(Section 8 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955)

Marriage and the institution of society predate modern society. The changing
structure of family, from joint to nuclear, shows it is not independent of shifts in
the economy, though the family is crucial for social reproduction of labour.
Since the Special Marriage Act came into force in 1954 for civil marriage, there
have been moves to push for legislation to document all marriages. But these
have fallen by the wayside as the majority of marriages are solemnised by
religious rites and fall within the domain of different personal laws. Fortunately,
some States have already taken lead in this regard. Among these are Gujarat,
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. However, the
real problem will come before States, which have miserably failed so far to
prevent child marriages.
Section 8 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 empowers the Governments to make
rules for the purpose of registration of marriages as there are various customary
forms of marriage in different communities among the Hindus and it would be
difficult to prove such customary forms.
Under sub-section (1) of section 8 of the Act, the parties to any marriage, may
have the particulars of the marriage entered in the register. Though in sub-
section (2) prescribing the punishment, the words any person are used, where
the State makes it compulsory to make entries in the register, both spouses will
be liable for punishment if entries are not made. Even if the entries are made at
the instance of one of the spouses only, the other spouse will not be liable for
punishment. Sub-section (4) provides the legislature intended to make the
marriage register a public document within the meaning of section 74 of the
Indian Evidence Act and a certified copy of such public document can be
produced in proof of the contents of the register. The same principle is adopted
in this section. Sub-section (5) states that the validity of any Hindu marriage
shall, in no way, be affected by the omission to make the entry in the marriage
register. It follows that the State Government is not empowered to make any
rule invalidating a Hindu marriage on the ground of omission to make an entry
in the marriage register.
As a matter of fact, it is going to be a boon in a country where marriages take
place with little responsibility. There are instances of a man marrying one
woman in one street and another in the next with impunity. What is, however,
needed is that the procedure of registration should be made easy not complex
and cumbersome as it exists today. At present for the sake of registration not
only the husband and wife have to personally appear before the Registrar but
they also have to produce two witnesses, who are the respectable persons of the
society. The couples have to submit the affidavit, normally prepared by lawyers,
photographs of marriage and invitation cards etc. as the proof of the marriage.
This is dissuading without doubt. That is why the Supreme Court has made it
clear that the registration should be made to be a facility not a penalty that too
only twenty-five rupees as stipulated by sub-section (2) of section 8 of the
Hindu Marriage Act which would reduce the justice to mockery.
The purpose of law can be best served when the registration is made very-very
simple. Cost, access, and effective communication will be the keys to success in
urban as well as rural areas. The cost of registration should be nominal. Easy
and hassle-free access will be facilitated if, in towns and clusters of villages,
post offices in addition to sub-registrars offices and, in villages, village
administrative officers or gram pramukhs are entrusted with the job of
registration.
Advantages of Compulsory Registration of Marriage:
Mandatory registration of marriage would compel society, at large, to
recognise that. It will address the problems of women like bigamous
husbands, property disputes or claiming maintenance following divorce.
It will certainly empower women by upholding their rights in a country
where more than 60 years after independence they are still treated as
second class citizens and often left destitute on the death of their
husbands or after divorce.
Now let us see in what way it will have salutary effect on the society.
First of all, it will have an important bearing on the health of women, who
get married at an early age. Marriage at early age means, reproduction of
children at an age, when they are not capable of child-bearing.
Once the registration of marriage becomes compulsory, the age of girl
and boy has to be mentioned at the time of marriage and the pernicious
practice of under-age marriage will get automatically abolished.
Secondly, parents will no longer be able to sell their girl children into
marriage for economic reasons or because of social compulsions e.g. this
is evidenced by the fact that in Sri Lanka, after registration was made
compulsory, there was a dramatic decrease in child marriage.
Cases of desertion and polygamy will significantly come down and the
women in vulnerable situations use the marriage certificates in courts to
assert their rights as spouses. And thirdly, but most importantly it will be
helpful in curbing and controlling the alarming growth of population in
the country. It is an un-denying fact that once the women are married at
mature age, the period of reproduction will be less and frequency of
child-bearing will get decreased.
Marriages, as they say, are made in heaven and solemnised on earth. It is a
sacrament (Sanskar) for Hindus, a sanctified contract for Muslims and
sacrosanct knot for Christians. Husbands and wives vow for each other, yet
there have been innumerable cases of betrayals by the spouses. In this context,
the direction of the Supreme Court of India for compulsory registration of
marriages was welcomed. Interestingly, this direction of the Apex Court came
during the course of hearing of a case of divorce petition. The maintenance suit
was filed by one Seema against her husband Ashwini Kumar, who had disputed
her marriage with him in the absence of any documentary proof which she had
failed to produce.
The bench of Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S.H. Kapadia directed the
governments to frame and suitably amend the rules to make the registration of
marriages compulsory within three months and it would be applicable for all
castes, communities and religious sects. The rules should be publicised and
public should be given the opportunity to file objections if any within one
month thereafter. The entire gamut of existing laws on marriage - for all
communities - would remain intact and registration procedure and rules would
be in addition to these.
Needless to say, it was a breakthrough. It will aid dismantling of the unhealthy
social edifices of child marriage and the exploitation of married women. It is
bound to have far-reaching benefits. Child marriage, although prohibited by the
Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, still continues in many communities.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) has also been demanding for
making the registration mandatory.
Law Commission of India under Chairmanship of Dr. Justice A. R. Lakshmanan
also submitted its report titled Laws on registration of marriage and divorce
A proposal for consolidation and reform vide Report no. 211 in October, 2008
and recommended for the enactment of a Marriage and Divorce Registration
Act to be made applicable in the whole of India and to all citizens irrespective
of their religion and personal law and without any exceptions or exemptions.

The Rajya Sabha on 13
th
August, 2013 passed a bill to make registration of
marriages, irrespective of religion, mandatory under the Registration of Births
and Deaths Act, 1969, which currently only regulates registration of births and
deaths. The amendment to the bill seeks to amend the Act to include the
registration of marriages within its purview. The Registration of Births and
Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2012, which was passed defines marriage to include
marriage solemnized between a male and female belonging to any caste or
religion. It also includes re-marriage.

Compulsory registration will, undoubtedly, drastically curtail the child
marriages ensuring the girl child the right to a free and wholesome childhood
and cases of desertion and polygamy will also significantly come down and the
women in vulnerable situations may use the marriage certificates in courts to
assert their rights as spouse.
It is suggested to go through class notes also.