In a disconcerting verdict yesterday, the Madhya Pradesh High Court negated an interfaith couple's plea for protection and assistance in formalising their marriage, declaring the union of a Muslim man and a Hindu woman, even under the Special Marriage Act, as illegitimate.
The court's assertion in paragraph 12 of the judgment, that a marriage sanctioned under the Special Marriage Act cannot override personal law prohibitions, is a significant misinterpretation. The judgment reads:
Personal law mandates the observance of certain rites for the consummation of marriage. While the Special Marriage Act exempts such marriages from challenges based on these rites, it does not validate marriages that personal law would otherwise prohibit. According to Section 4 of the Special Marriage Act, marriages are permissible only when the parties are not in a prohibited relationship.