Marriage Certificate Issued By Arya Samaj Not Legally Valid: Supreme Court

Recently, the Supreme Court refused to accept a certificate issued by the Arya Samaj as proof of marriage. While hearing a bail petition in a rape case, the apex court said that issuing such certificates was not the job of the Arya Samaj.

“Arya Samaj has no business giving marriage certificate. This is the work of authorities. Show the real certificate,” a bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and B V Nagarathna said while hearing a petition of a man who had been denied bail by the Rajasthan High Court in a rape case. The man has been charged with kidnapping and raping a minor girl.

The court said this while rejecting the submissions of the counsel that the victim who had levelled allegations of rape was a major girl and that the petitioner and the girl had got married at the Arya Samaj.

“We have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and find no reason to interfere in the order impugned at this stage. However, after the charges are framed, the petitioner is at liberty to renew his application for bail before the trial court,” the bench said in its order.

The development comes amidst a plea pending in the Supreme Court of the Madhya Bharat Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, the nodal body of Arya Samaj temples in Madhya Pradesh, which has challenged a 17 December 2021 order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court directing it to solemnise marriage in accordance with the Special Marriage Act, 1954.

The High Court order said that no one other than the competent authority under the 1954 Act can issue certificates in such marriages.

Upholding a single-judge decision, the Supreme Court bench of Justices K M Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy had issued a notice as well as stayed the operation of the High Court order. It asked the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha to amend within a month its August 2016 guidelines by incorporating the provisions of Sections 5, 6, 7, and 8 of the Special Marriage Act.