Sikh Marriage Act ready for Cabinet nod

chakdey

Member
Chandigarh, May 12
If the assurances given by Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily to a delegation of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee on Wednesday are any indication, the draft of the Sikh Marriage Act is ready for ratification by the Union Cabinet. After clearance by the Cabinet, it will be introduced in Parliament at its next session.

Once passed, the Sikh Marriage Act will meet a long-standing demand of the community that has been fighting for an amendment to the Anand Marriage Act passed by the British in 1909. Under the Act, there will be a special provision for the registration of marriages performed under Sikh religious rights. Interestingly, Pakistan had taken the lead over India by adopting the amended Anand Marriage Act a couple of years ago.

Only yesterday, the Union Law Minister had given indications for amending the Special Marriage Act and not the Hindu Marriage Act. Incidentally, marriages performed under Sikh religious rights are registered either under the Hindu Marriage Act or the Special Marriage Act. Now when the Special Marriage Act is being amended, provision for the registration of marriages performed according to the Anand Marriage Act of 1909 will also be incorporated.

Moily briefed the DSGMC delegation on the proposal. The delegation comprised Paramjit Singh Sarna, his brother Harvinder Singh Sarna besides Bhajan Singh Walia, Kartar Singh Kochhar, Gurmeet Singh Shunty and Rajinder Singh Chadha.

It discussed the statutory recognition to be given to the Sikh way of marriage known as Anand Karaj. The Minister said the Ministry of Law had cleared this long-pending demand and recommended it to the cabinet for enactment. This recognises the Sikh way of life by statutory enactment. Moily referred to his talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and pertinent reference was made to Sonia Gandhi wherein she had taken note of genuine Sikh demands and decided in principle for the passing of the Sikh Marriage Act.

Talking to The Tribune, Paramjit Singh Sarna said Harbans Singh of Toronto (Canada) had made a strong follow-up with the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee to pursue the issue with the Indian Government at the last World Sikh Conference held in Delhi.

He said the issue regarding the grant of citizenship to those who had come from Afghanistan was also raised at the meeting with the Law Minister. A memorandum and factual position would be submitted soon.

Earlier a delegation of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee and the Shiromani Akali Dal, Delhi, had met Sonia Gandhi to put across four major demands of the Sikh community before her. She gave an assurance that three of the demands would be implemented in the near future. So far as the issue of Afghan Sikhs was concerned, an effort would be made to see that they got citizenship in terms of the Citizenship Act, 1955, and the Constitution of India, Sarna said

The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Main News
 

Dhillon

Dhillon Sa'aB™
Staff member
Now every other community will want a separate marriage act.
What's the point in that ?
 
I ask you what's the harm in that?

If i want to register my marriage under sikh act and even if it lets just say helps me feel good about myself.....then what is it to YOU?

Unless it presents you with undue financial or social hardships......me asking for a seperate marriage act is justifiable sort of like a muslim women asking to work in a office setting with her hijab on???

If it doesn't affect her or her colleagues performances in a negative way then what is the problem?????

I hope i explained reasonable accomodation to you. If not then research about it. A good working example is Canada where most employers follow it. The country has a really good forward looking legal and social framework where multiculturalism is seen as a boon not a curse. Maybe India needs to learn from them in terms of how to manage diversity.
 
No, because no sikh felt that they need it there.

And you might now ask me why?

because we already have the Canadian Multiculturalism Act (1988) which is aimed to

"h) foster the recognition and appreciation of the diverse cultures of Canadian society and promote the reflection and the evolving expressions of those cultures;

i) preserve and enhance the use of languages other than English and French, while strengthening the status and use of the official languages of Canada...."


Notice the key highlighted words - This law serves the same purpose as this marriage act will in India for the Sikhs. I still fail to understand why you would be against such a law even when it has no negative afffects. If anything it will work because it will give Sikhs the feeling that they are welcomed into the Indian society.
 

Dhillon

Dhillon Sa'aB™
Staff member
Indian marriage act will do exactly the same.

recognition and appreciation of the diverse cultures and
preserving the rituals and customs of different communities.

Plus exact same legalities apply to all.
 
Good but there is a HUGE difference between India and Canada which you are overlooking.

"India is fragmented by a lack of common language as state boundries are drawn mostly on linguistic basis. Hindi, despite being constitutionally recognised as the official language has not been adopted by the country as a whole."

Canada - Close to 70 percent prefer and speak English.
India - Just over 40 percent speak Hindi.(Less than half of the population)

See the difference?

And different languages means subtle differences in cultures? That is why there is a need for specific acts or laws in India. Thus the enactment of Hindu Marriage act(Hindi), Muslim Marriage Act(Urdu) and if this goes through then the Sikh Marriage Act(Punjabi).

And the implementation of these can be left upto States to manage. More efficient then one broad law which leaves room open for interpretation.

Specific and detailed laws or acts (in this case specifically tailored marriage acts) are always better than broad laws ?
Makes sense?
 

Dhillon

Dhillon Sa'aB™
Staff member
how about providing one marriage act in all India languages ?

And i don't understand what you mean by specific laws ? Difefrent laws for hindus and sikhs ? like what ??
 

userid50966

Well-known member
how about providing one marriage act in all India languages ?

And i don't understand what you mean by specific laws ? Difefrent laws for hindus and sikhs ? like what ??
MY FRND , in till now we are no tht advance tht every marriage is registered in court ,
say in future the couple need to proove their marraige how is it possible to proove withur one marriage act becoz according to u if marriage is not registered thn the couple is in living relationship rather thn married?
 
Indian marriage act will do exactly the same.

recognition and appreciation of the diverse cultures and
preserving the rituals and customs of different communities.

Plus exact same legalities apply to all.


I'd reply to your other post in a sec but i first have a question.


How would the Indian Marriage act....that you are proposing define marriage???
 

userid50966

Well-known member
i'm not supporting indian marriage act , wht i'm saying is that in our people we do marriages as per our religion , and thn later we tell the authorities by showing proof of our religious rituals performed during marriage to proove a couple married and help them getting registered which is hard ,, by having one marriage act
 

Dhillon

Dhillon Sa'aB™
Staff member
A legal contract between two adult individuals.
Further the act defines legal rights of marrying partners, their kids and parents.
And the grounds for divorce.
 

Dhillon

Dhillon Sa'aB™
Staff member
i'm not supporting indian marriage act , wht i'm saying is that in our people we do marriagesas epr fer religion , and thn later we tell the authorities by showing proof of or religious rituals performed during marriage to proove a couple married and help them getting registered which is hard ,, by having one marriage act

Rituals are not necessary for marriage.
 

userid50966

Well-known member
A legal contract between two adult individuals.
Further the act defines legal rights of marrying partners, their kids and parents.
And the grounds for divorce.
it is crap
u need to dug moreand get some solid points man to proove ur point, if say in remote village of india there is some qurallel between huband and wife who are not registered , and husband refuse b saying that he didn't married to girl , so how could grl proove her marriage
 
A legal contract between two adult individuals.
Further the act defines legal rights of marrying partners, their kids and parents.
And the grounds for divorce.


^^ and that contract will be written or verbal??

It wont work in india....because as already stated..... in india....people marry with regards to their religions. i.e rituals or you may want to call it contracts already established by religions.

example - muslims can have more than one wife.
hindus can only have one wife.....

and lots of other differences..

For those reasons that acts being proposed do a better job at accomplishing the task at hand.
 

Dhillon

Dhillon Sa'aB™
Staff member
^^ and that contract will be written or verbal??

It wont work in india....because as already stated..... in india....people marry with regards to their religions. i.e rituals or you may want to call it contracts already established by religions.

example - muslims can have more than one wife.
hindus can only have one wife.....

and lots of other differences..

For those reasons that acts being proposed do a better job at accomplishing the task at hand.

And Where does Hindu and Sikh religion states that one can't have more than one wife ?
Its just the law that we follow.
And that law should apply to Muslims as well.

Entirely your opinion. Please, dont force it on others. Plus, some things that you term as rituals may be more then rituals to others. So you are treading a slippery slope there.

Ceremonies are not required to register a marriage. That's how it is.
 
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