The Madras High Court recently directed the Tamil Nadu State Bar Council to initiate disciplinary proceedings against lawyers who preside over secret marriages in their offices or trade union offices and issue marriage certificates.
A vacation bench of Justice M Dhandapani and Justice R Vijayakumar reaffirmed that such marriages and the marriage certificates issued as a result of them are invalid, according to the Supreme Court.
The court went on to say that all marriages, including those performed under the ‘self-respect’ provision, must be “registered under the Tamil Nadu Registration of Marriages Act, 2009, and the parties must physically appear before the Registrar.”
In 1968, Tamil Nadu legalized self-respect marriages, which require the consent of both parties who are of marriageable age, and do away with upper caste priests and elaborate rituals. These marriages, too, must be registered under the law.
It cited the Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in the case of S Balakrishnan Pandiyan vs The Superintendent of Police, which held that marriages performed in secret in the offices of advocates and bar association rooms do not amount to the required solemnisation under the law.
“The Bar Council of Tamil Nadu is also directed to initiate disciplinary action against the lawyers who are conducting these types of marriages all over Tamil Nadu by issuing fake certificates after providing opportunity to them within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. The Law Enforcing Agency is also at liberty to proceed against the lawyers who are performing these types of marriages as well as the petitioner in the manner known to law,” the bench remarked.
The court was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by one Ilavarasan, who claimed that his wife had been forcibly detained by her parents despite the fact that they had married under Section 7-A of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, in the presence of advocates and office bearers of the Trade Union.
He also stated that the advocates had granted the couple a certificate of self-respect.
The bench ruled that the marriage was invalid and directed the Bar Council to take action against the lawyers involved in the current case after serving them with notices. The Court also ordered the Bar Council to take action against all lawyers in the state who conduct such marriages.
