Under which act can an Indian person marry a foreigner?
It is said that matches are made in heaven. Love can happen anytime and with anyone; when two people love, they also want to marry. In India, different acts of marriage have been made for all religions. There is no show-off, even if the boy is from India and the girl is from India. The marriage is registered under the Special Marriage Act if the boy and the girl belong to different religions. Even this is fine for all couples. But when love happens to someone sitting across the border? In such a situation, under which act can that couple gets married, and how can they do so? We are going to give you all this information in this article. Share the article even further so that everyone gets legal information.
Man is a social animal who cannot spend his whole life alone. Just as we need society to live, in the same way, a life partner is needed to spend our real life with so that we can overcome all the obstacles and problems that come in our life by getting his support. In a country like India, marriage is considered sacred. When the boy and girl's caste or religion differs, the difficulties increase, and they face many social constraints.
Different laws have been made in every religion for marriage in the country. For example, apart from the Hindu Marriage Act 1954, the Special Marriage Act 1954, the Foreign Marriage Act, and the Indian Christian Marriage Act, many other laws exist. The boy and the girl can marry off their own free will under these laws.
According to Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act, certain conditions have to be followed, such as:
- Should not be a prohibited relation (close relative): According to the Hindu Marriage Act 1954, the marriage should be according to Hindu rituals. Under this, Hindu boys and girls not in Prohibited relations (close relatives) and Sapinda relations (be in 5 generations of father and three generations of mother) can marry.
- The boy should be 21, and the girl should be 18.
- Boy and girl should not be already married.
- The boy and the girl should be mentally sound.
Who can marry under the Special Marriage Act 1954?
- Under the Special Marriage Act of 1954, people from two different religions can marry without changing their religion. When a boy and a girl are of age and are eligible to marry, they can marry each other under this act of their own free will.
- According to this act, the age of a boy and girl should be above 21 years.
- The rest of the conditions are followed as per the Hindu Marriage Act.
Penalty under Child Marriage Act:
- Under the Child Marriage Act, marriage cannot occur if the girl is below 18 years of age and the boy is below 21. If this marriage takes place, it will be invalid.
- There is a provision under the Child Marriage Act that if anyone does or gets such a marriage done or abets it and is found guilty, he can be imprisoned for up to two years and a fine of up to one lakh rupees.
Case: Aarushi Mehra and others Vs. State of Delhi and others 2023
- Let's understand from this case how an Indian can marry a foreigner. The girl is Hindu by religion and is a Canadian citizen. However, he also had an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card. The boy was a Christian by religion and an American citizen.
- Both of them live in Delhi and work in Delhi. The boy and the girl wanted to register their marriage under the Special Marriage Act 1954. To get married in Delhi, one has to submit an online form at www.edistrict.delhigovt.nic.in. But in the Special Marriage Act, either the boy or the girl should be of Indian origin for marriage. In this case, neither of the two was Indian.
- SDM refused to take applications under Special Marriage Act. After this, a representation was also given by both of them on October 12, 2022, which was not replied to.
- According to Section 4 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954, any two persons can seek the solemnization of their marriage as long as the conditions are fulfilled. In subsections (a), (b), (c), and (d) of section 4 of the same act, nothing related to citizens has been written. It is clear that under the Special Marriage Act, one of the two persons is not required to be a citizen of India.
- In this case, the Supreme Court should issue instructions to the Delhi government for the marriage of both. The Supreme Court also clarified that under the Special Marriage Act, one of the two partners doesn’t need to be an Indian.
From this, it is clear that any person can register their marriage under the Special Marriage Act, provided all the rules of this act are followed.
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