Delhi high court clarifies Hindu Marriage Act doubts

The Delhi high court (HC), clearing doubts about the Hindu Marriage Act, has ruled that to get divorce under the act, both the spouses must be Hindus. If only one of them is, the divorce can’t be granted.

In an attempt to clarify the universal application of the exclusive Hindu law, the Delhi high court ruled that the Hindu Marriage Act is not applicable to Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jews.

As per the act, a party to the law suit must prove that the other was a Hindu at the time of marriage, the HC said. As per the ruling, mere fact that a couple solemnised the marriage as per the Hindu rites and ceremonies would not attract the applicability of the act.

The  mandate of the law is that “marriage has to take place between two Hindus”, justice Kailash Gambhir said, while dismissing the petition filed by one Sangeeta seeking divorce from her husband Preston Gomes under the act.

Sangeeta couldn’t prove the fact that Golmes had embraced Hindu religion before he married her on November 24, 2007.

It is a well known principle of civil law that a person born into or following one religion continues to belong to such religion subject to conversion. A mere theoretical allegiance to the Hindu faith by a person born in another faith does not convert him into a Hindu, nor is a bare declaration that he is a Hindu sufficient to convert him to Hinduism, the HC said.

The conversion from one religion to another religion is a very major decision in one’s life and for proving such a conversion is also a necessity, the court added.

Experts opine that if a couple belonging to the two divergent religions are married under the Hindu law,  they cam resort to other enactments for divorce, irretrievable break down of marriage and incompatibility are some of them .

The irretrievable breakdown of a marriage has been added to both the laws relating to the Hindu and Special Marriage Law.