New Delhi, 3rd June 2022: On Friday, the Supreme Court declared the marriage certificates issued by the Arya Samaj illegal. The court gave this order while hearing a case related to a love dispute.
Supreme Court on Arya Samaj Marriage:
Arya Samaj was founded by Hindu social reformer Dayanand Saraswati in 1875. A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and BV Nagaratna said that Arya Samaj does not have the right of issuing marriage certificates. The court said that this work can be done only by a competent authority and made this observation while hearing a love marriage case in Madhya Pradesh.
In this case, a girl’s family had lodged an FIR with the police and accused a man of kidnapping and raping their daughter. In their complaint, they had described the daughter as a minor. Hence this case was registered under the POCSO Act. On this, the accused young man had filed an application claiming that the girl accompanying him was an adult and both of them got married.
The man said, “As we both are adults, we have the right to marry.” He noted that they got married in an Arya Samaj temple.
What order was given by the Madhya Pradesh High Court
The young man had also provided the marriage certificate in support of his claim, which was issued by the Central Bharatiya Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, an organization of Arya Samaj. The certificate was rejected by the Supreme Court and questions were raised on the legitimacy of the marriage certificate issued by Arya Samaj. The Madhya Pradesh High Court did not quash the certificate of Arya Samaj in this case. However, it had ordered the organization of Arya Samaj to incorporate sections 5, 6, 7, and 8 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 in the process of issuing the certificate.
Arya Samaj had given the argument, marriages happening in Arya Samaj temples since 1937
A Complaint was filed in the Supreme Court, against this decision of the High Court. The Supreme Court had already stayed the High Court’s decision after hearing the case. Now the authority to issue this certificate has also been rejected. Arya Samaj had argued during the hearing of the case that since 1937, marriages have been taking place in its temples and they have been given legitimacy. It also said that Arya Samaj didn’t need to incorporate the provisions of the Special Marriage Act. and if either of the two is a Hindu, then they can get married in the Arya Samaj temple.