Report No. 211
C. Special and Local Laws
The Anand Marriage Act 1909, still in force, was passed to recognize Sikh marriages performed by the religious rites known as "Anandkaraj." It, however, contained no provision for registration of any such marriage. Recently some Sikh leaders have demanded that the 1909 Act should be enlarged into a full-fledged 16"Sikh Marriage Act" and registration of all Sikh marriages should be made under that law.
The Arya Marriage Validation Act 1937 was passed to recognize inter-caste and inter-sect marriages among the Hindus. Strangely, this Act which remains in force said nothing about the well-established Arya Samaj system of certification of marriages.
Marriages governed by both these Acts can, of course, be registered under Section 8 of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 and the State Rules made under that provision. So can the marriages among the Brahmosamaj is who also have their own system of certification of marriages. Both the Aryasamaj is and the Brahmosamaj is are specifically described by the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 as "forms" or "developments" of the Hindu religion -- while the Act applies, besides the Hindus, also to the Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs (Section 2).
In Jammu and Kashmir the local Hindu Marriage Act 1980 dittoed almost all provisions of the central Hindu Marriage Act 1955 as originally enacted. Section 8 of the State Act literally reproduced Section 8 of the central Act relating to registration of marriages. The State Government has not provided for compulsory registration of any marriage governed by the local Hindu Marriage Act.
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