Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
The Gujarat High Court is set to decide whether a marriage between a Christian and a non-Christian registered under Christian personal law is null. The dispute before the Court involves an 18-year-old Hindu woman and her Christian husband, whose marriage was registered on September 25, 2019, by a government-licenced marriage registrar under the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872.
After matrimonial conflicts, the wife moved for divorce at a civil court in Vadodara. While the divorce application was pending, she approached the High Court parallelly. Justice V D Nanavati questioned this move when there is a statutory remedy available by seeking relief from a civil court.
The Counsel of the wife, Adv. Megha Jani submitted that the High Court has the power to intervene. They argued that seeking a divorce is not possible since the marriage itself is not valid. The wife thus has to seek a declaration that the marriage was void and its registration null. The Counsel cited Section 5(5) of the Act (“marriage between Indian Christians”) and argued that it prohibits the government-licensed marriage registrar from registering a marriage in which both parties are not Christians.
The Counsel for the marriage registrar, Adv. Johnsey Macwan argued that the registrar is authorized to register a marriage under Christian personal law even if one of the parties is a non-Christian. He implored that a single section cannot be read in isolation, but if Sections 4, 5 and 77 of the Act are read together, it is evident that a registrar can issue a certificate of marriage if one of the spouses is not a Christian.
The husband opposed the demand for annulment in the Court, asserting that she seeks relief from a civil court only.
The Court admitted the case and posted a further hearing in two weeks’ time.