Marriage performed as per Hindu rituals, not certificates

Hyderabad: Earlier, it was easy for couples to enter into wedlock at the Lakshminarasimha Swamy temple in Telangana State.

However, temple authorities had faced several legal problems with parents of couples approaching courts against such marriages, mostly in case of minors or when someone would seek divorce at a later stage. Weddings were thus stopped at the temple for over a year.

“There is a huge demand from the people for restoration of performing marriages in Yadagirigutta temple. Officials have come up with various proposals to ensure that there are no legal complications in the future. Asking for marriage registration certificate is one proposal.

However, a final decision is yet to be taken,” said Gongidi Sunitha, government Whip and TRS Alair MLA of Nalgonda district, where the temple is located.

Officials have proposed to set up a marriage registration mechanism on the temple premises itself to enable couples to register.

It was also proposed to hand over the responsibility of performing marriages to a recognised archakas association, which is registered with the government’s endowments department.

Senior advocate P. Vishuvardhan Reddy said, “The temple authorities have no authority to deny performing marriage of majors in the temple just because they don’t possess marriage registration certificates.

Two majors have the right to marry without any reference to marriage certificates because marriage is performed as per Hindu rites and customs and not certificates.

The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 has a provision for certain modes of performing marriage. Any one of the modes can be followed for the marriage to be valid.

The purpose of registration of marriage is only for maintaining government records.”

“Whether a marriage is valid or not will be decided by a family court or civil court based on relevant evidence,” he said.

Senior advocate,  T. Sriranga Rao, said, “If the temple authorities want to prevent minors from marrying in the temple, they can seek birth certificates, SSC memos or affidavits to find out their age.

But they cannot refuse to perform marriages just because they don’t possess marriage registration certificates. That does not render the marriage invalid. Registration is only the conclusive proof of evidence of marriage.”