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16 Supremo Amicus 103 (2020)
Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges - Special Marriage Act, 1954

handle is hein.journals/supami16 and id is 113 raw text is: SUPREMO AMICUS

VOLUME 16

ISSN: 2456-9704

BREAKING BARRIERS, BUILDING
BRIDGES - SPECIAL MARRIAGE
ACT, 1954
By Harshal Shah
From ICFAI Law School, Hyderabad
Abstract:
The Special Marriage Act, 1954 is an Act
enacted by the Parliament of India to
provide a new dimension of marriages for
the residents of India and all Indian
nationals  in    overseas   countries,
irrespective of the faith or religion followed
by either party. The Act originated from the
legislation proposed during the 19th
century in India. Marriages that are
solemnized under Special Marriage Act of
India are not governed by their respective
personal laws. It harmonises a common
marriage of two Indians, without the want
of denying their separate faith/religion. The
Act comprises of a common marriage that
authorises  people  to   get  married
irrespective of their individual group
instructions and their various community
based laws. It precludes station or spiritual
boundaries to marriage and gave a truly
common and non -formal stately marriage.
The one of a type characteristic of the
Special Marriage Act, 1954 is that any
marriage solemnized in a few other forms
like underneath some other personal law,
Indian or non-native, between any people
can be enlisted below the Act. The marriage
conducted  under this Act is widely
accepted. People who plan to get married
under the Special Marriage Act might serve
a notice in writing to the Marriage Officer
of the location in the predetermined form.
The important objectives of the new
enactment under The Special Marriage Act
are, to provide special form of marriage, to
provide registration of marriages and to
provide divorce.

Introduction:
India, a country where there are numerous
religions, cultures, traditions and rituals are
celebrated. It gave nativity to many faiths
other than Hinduism, consisting of Sikhism,
Buddhism, Jainism, etc. There are people
from many religions inhabiting in India like
Muslims, Christians, and Parsis bringing
the concept of diversity in India where the
country  celebrates  the   concept  of
secularism which is one of the major factors
in governing the policies of India.
Marriage is one of the most sacred
institutions celebrated around the globe.
Earlier, the communities in India believed
in the concept of arranged marriages either
within their community    or in their
respective caste and strongly condemned
the idea of inter caste marriages and
remarriages. Today, due to globalisation
and  rapid  development of law     and
legislation  around  the   globe   few
communities and few groups of society has
started accepting the inter caste and inter
religious marriages and also India has a
proper  legislation  to  regulate  such
marriages and to prevent the unlawful
practices that still prevail in few parts if
India.
In  1872, Henry   Sumner Maine first
introduced the Act III of 1872, which would
give permission to dissenters to marry
whom so ever they choose under a new civil
marriage law. Later in the final wording, the
regulation sought to legitimize marriages
for those inclined to renounce their faith
altogether (I do not profess the Hindu,
Christian, Jewish, etc. religion) and can
follow inter caste marriages. [1] Overall, the
view of the local governments and the
administrators was that they unanimously
opposed to Maine's Bill and believed that
this regulation is recommending marriages
based on lust, which leads to immorality. [21

www.supremoamicus.org
103

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