Uttar Pradesh Govt Tightens Rules for 'Out of Town’ Marriage Registrations
New Delhi: In compliance with a recent Allahabad high court interim order, the Uttar Pradesh government will look to register a marriage in a given city only if either the bride, the groom or any of their parents are “generally” residents of that city.
This changes the rule until now, under which marriages could be registered wherever they were held.
On May 12, the Allahabad high court took suo motu cognisance of what it said was an organised syndicate of touts who get fake marriages registered on forged documents and directed the state government to amend Uttar Pradesh Marriage Registration Rules, 2017, within six months.
Justice Vinod Diwakar, according to Times of India, directed all deputy registrars entrusted with the task of marriage registration to adhere to the instructions issued on October 14, 2024.
The instructions call for Aadhaar-based authentication of bride and groom, biometric data and photos of both parties and two witnesses, and age verification through official portals like DigiLocker, CBSE, UP Board, CISCE CRS, Passport, PAN, driving licence, among other things.
According to the Hindustan Times, officials in Uttar Pradesh are now also directed that unregistered rent agreements will not count as proof of residence, the person who solemnises a marriage must be present when it is registered, and the aforesaid person must submit an affidavit.
The report cites one official as noting that the court order was delivered in connection with “jurisdictional issues” stemming from people outside Ghaziabad registering their marriages in the city and petitioning the high court for protection from their families. The report notes that officials said Ghaziabad had emerged "as a popular destination for marriages of runaway couples."
“The high court’s directions are interim directions until the rules are amended — the court has also ordered the principal secretary of the department of women and child development to amend the Uttar Pradesh Marriage Registration Rules, 2017, in coordination with the inspector general of the stamps and registration department within six months. The state government has ordered us to follow the high court’s interim directions with immediate effect till the rules are amended. One of the main components of the directions states that a marriage will be registered in a particular city only if either the bride or the groom or their parents are generally the residents of the same city,” Pushpendra Kumar, assistant inspector general (AIG, stamps), is quoted in the report as saying.
The aim, says lawyer Anubhav Singh, is clearly to end inter-caste and inter-community marriages.
Already, an anti-conversion law in Uttar Pradesh, introduced by the Bharatiya Janata Party government in 2020 in the backdrop of a concerted campaign by the saffron party against the bogey of ‘love jihad’, has made it difficult for inter-faith couples to get their marriages registered in the state under the Special Marriage Act without interference from Hindutva bodies.
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