Coming to the rescue of two couples (in both cases the bridegrooms are Indian and the brides Sri Lankan), the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court directed the authorities concerned to register their marriages, holding that the women were eligible to become Indian citizens.
Taking into account the hardship the couples had to go through in trying to get their marriage registered, Justice S. Vaidyanathan directed the Inspector General of Registration to send a circular to all marriage registering authorities explaining clearly steps and procedures to be taken for registering marriages.
The court was hearing the petition filed by U. Kalatheeswaran. He met G. Parimala Devi, an expatriate from Sri Lanka, in Bahrain in 2013 where he was working. They fell in love and with the consent of their families got married in 2018 in India. At the time of the marriage, Parimala Devi was in India on a tourist visa.
They had approached the Registration Department officials in Sivaganga district to register their marriage under the Special Marriage Act. However, the request was turned down. The State argued before the court that a person had to continuously live in India for not less than two years to be considered for citizenship under the Citizenship Act.
Parimala Devi could not be termed an Indian citizen as per the provision of the Act. Therefore, the registration could not be done, it was submitted. The counsel for the petitioner argued that the couple were residing in India for the past two years.
The judge observed that as per the Special Marriage Act, there was no condition prescribed that the spouse should be an Indian citizen and there was no prohibition on an Indian citizen to marry a foreigner. It was specified in the Act that the couple should have been residing in the district of the marriage officer for a period of not less than 30 days.
In the present case, the couple had fulfilled the required criteria. Therefore, the woman was eligible to become a citizen of India.
In a similar case, the court heard the petition filed by K. Selvaranjan who married Yaalvini, an expatriate from Sri Lanka, in 2018. The Hindu couple were relatives and the marriage was held in accordance with the Hindu law. The marriage was registered in the village register and the villagers signed as witnesses.
An application was filed before the Registration Department in Ramanathapuram to register the marriage. But, the authorities turned down the request on similar grounds as in the first case. The court said the couple fulfilled the required criteria, there was no hurdle in registering their marriage and the woman was eligible for citizenship.
As far as the Hindu Marriage Act was concerned, there should be marriage between two Hindus and though there was no time limit for the registration of the Hindu Marriage, it should be applied for registration at any time along with a valid proof of marriage and age, the judge observed.
The practice of government officials demanding court orders to do their duty should be stopped, the judge said.
