State can’t prohibit interfaith marriages: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court stated on Wednesday that there is no legal basis for the State to forbid an interfaith couple from getting married while hearing a plea filed by two foreign nationals seeking to have their marriage solemnised and registered under the Special Marriage Act, 1954

Justice Yashwant Varma was a hearing a plea made by a interfaith couple, the woman being a Hindu who is a Canadian citizen and a christian man who is an American citizen. The petitioner’s attorney claimed that the couple had lived in Delhi for more than six months. They aim to stay put and get hitched in accordance with the Special Marriage Act (SMA).

Justice Varma said, “There is no way that the State can prohibit an interfaith couple to marry.”

The petition addresses the Special Marriage Act’s restrictions on foreign nationals’ ability to legally consummate their marriages and the right to do so. The court ruled on Wednesday that the matter should be called again on December 15 so that parties may submit in-depth arguments and the court could address them.
The parties are free to submit their written arguments and the court order they rely on in the case.
The couple had submitted a marriage application on the Delhi Government website, according to the argument made by attorney Rishabh Kapur. An error message stating that “at least one party should be Indian” appeared after they had submitted their information. The couple was then barred from going any farther.

According to the petition, the SDM office instructed them that specific party information had to be entered into the website in order for it to function.

The petitioners have asked the Delhi Government and SDM for a directive to allow them to physically present their paperwork, solemnise their marriage, and register it under the SMA in a timely way.
The petition has relied on the High Court’s order from 2021, which instructed the Delhi Government to take action to revise the rules and make the required updates to the website to make it possible for foreign nationals who want to get married in Delhi to file for registration of their union.
The petition claimed that the government had not taken any action to make the changes even after the directions passed 16 months back.