Special Marriage Act, 1954 (SMA)

Question 1

What is it?

Answer 1

enacted to facilitate the marriage of couples professing different faiths and preferring a civil wedding.
{FOR INTERFAITH MARRIAGE}

Question 2

What are the provisions of SMA?

Answer 2

-Parties to an intended marriage should give notice to the ‘marriage officer’ of the district in which one of them had resided for at least 30 days. The marriage has to be solemnised within three months of the notice, and if it is not, a fresh notice will be needed.
{NOTICE TO DISTRICT MARRIAGE OFFICER,MARRIAGE IN 3 MON.}

-The law also provides for objections to the marriage. Any person can object to the marriage within 30 days of the publication of the notice on the ground that it contravenes one of the conditions for a valid marriage.
{OBJECTIONS TO MARRIAGE IN 30 DAYS OF NOTICE}

-when a member of an undivided family who professes Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jain religions, gets married under SMA, it results in his or her ending relation from the family.
{IF FROM HINDU,JAIN,SIKH->NO MORE RELATION WITH FAM.}

Question 3

Which provisions of SMA are creating challenges and how?

Answer 3

The public notice provision place a question mark on the safety and privacy of those intending to marry across religions. In many cases, there may be a threat to the lives of the applicants. There have been reports of right-wing groups opposing to inter-faith marriages. And misusing these data for communal propaganda
{PUBLIC NOTICE HAS INFO-> SECURITY,PRIVACY THREAT}

The objection provision may be used by the family members objecting to the union to seek to stop the marriage by coercion.
{OBJECTION PROVISION -> USED TO STOP MARRIAGE FOR NO REASON}

Question 4

Which aspects are against individual rights?

Answer 4

challenged in the Supreme Court -> violate the privacy of the couples, their dignity and right to marry given in art.21
{VIOLATES ART 21 -> MARRY,DIGNITY,PRIVACY}

The requirement in the SMA which is absent in the case of Hindu and Muslim marriage laws violates the Right to Equality (Article 14) of those opting for marriage under SMA.
{NO SUCH PROVISION FOR HINDU-HINDU,MUSLIM-MUSLIM MARRIAGE -> ART 14,EQUALITY VIOLATED}

Intervention in marriages involving consenting adults may be unconstitutional
{INTERVENING CONSENSUAL MARRIAGE-> CONSTITUTIONAL}

Question 5

How the Freedom of Religion Acts some states is affecting this?

Answer 5

Under laws in HP & UK, conversion for marriage is allowed but marriage done solely for the purpose of conversion may be declared null and void by a family court based on a suit by either party.
{MARRIAGE SOLELY FOR CONVERSION->NOT ALLOWED}