Podcasts News The Big Story How The Special Marriage Act Judgment Sends A Message to The State

How The Special Marriage Act Judgment Sends A Message to The State

Published: Jan. 14, 2021, 2:50 p.m.

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Amid reports of rampant harassment and arrests of interfaith couples over anti-love jihad legislations, came an important judgment from the Allahabad High Court, which allows interfaith couples to have a safer registration of their marriages under the Special Marriage Act.
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On 14 January, a single-judge bench of Justice Vivek Chaudhary held that there is no need to mandatorily publish notices for marriages under the Special Marriage Act as is currently required.
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The court observed that such mandatory notices invade the fundamental rights of liberty and privacy and also affect a couple\'s freedom to marry a person of their choice, due to interference from state and non-state actors.
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What this judgment does, is uphold right to privacy and individual autonomy by leaving it up to the couple if they want to request a marriage officer to publish the notice of their union or to not publish it.
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This, coming at a time when fringe right-wing mobs and even the police have started interfering in unions of interfaith couples in states like Uttar Pradesh, makes it a significant judgment.
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While this is legal pushback against interference in interfaith marriages under Special Marriage Act, will this be able make a change on the ground as well? And can this judgment in anyway be able to challenge love jihad ordinances?
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\\nProducer and Host: Shorbori Purkayastha
\\nGuests: Vrinda Grover, Lawyer & Human Rights Activist
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\\nEditor: Shelly Walia
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\\nMusic: Big Bang Fuzz
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Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2ntMV7S\\n
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