Observing that "in a secular republic, the State must not turn a citizen's faith into either a privilege or a handicap", Supreme Court has pulled up states and UTs for not framing rules for registration of Sikh marriages and directed them to do it within four months.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta ordered that till the states frame rules, the registration of Anand Karaj marriages should be done without discrimination under the prevailing marriage registration framework.The Anand Marriage Act was enacted to recognise the validity of marriages performed by the Sikh ceremony of Anand Karaj.
By the Amendment of 2012, Parliament inserted Section 6 of the Act, casting a duty on respective state govts to make rules to facilitate registration of such marriages, maintain a marriage register, and provide certified extracts, while clarifying that failure to register it would not affect the validity of an Anand marriage.
As many states and UTs failed to implement the law in more than a decade, the apex court intervened and passed directives.
"The fidelity of a constitutional promise is measured not only by the rights it proclaims, but by the institutions that make those rights usable.
In a secular republic, the State must not turn a citizen's faith into either a privilege or a handicap.
When the law recognises Anand Karaj as a valid form of marriage yet leaves no machinery to register it, the promise is only half kept.
What remains is to ensure that the route from rites to record is open, uniform and fair," SC said.
The Supreme Court said Section 6 of the Act discloses a complete legislative scheme and the provision, intended as an imperative, identifies the facilitative purpose of registration.
"It requires the keeping of a public register with certified extracts, provides for laying of rules before the state legislature, and removes the burden of duplicative registration once an entry is made under the Act.
