The Sikh Bulletin

The Sikh Bulletin hwV-swvx 537 June-July 2005
objects and reasons was based on the experience of the Sikhs
being addressed as ‘illegal children’ simply because their
marriage ceremony was not recognized by the Hindus 5 .
However, in the present, the Anand Marriage Act, 1909,
though addressing this aspect, has fallen short of its intended
objective of reducing the difficulties of the Sikhs and the
relevance of the Act is itself doubtful.
The first shortcoming of the Act, which is quite noticeable, is
the absence of any provision for the registration of the
marriages performed under the Anand Marriage Act, 1909.
The Act is a brief piece of legislation containing only five
sections. The purpose of the Anand Marriage Act at the time
of legislation was only to validate the marriages performed
with the Sikh ceremonies. By contrast, the Indian Christian
Marriage Act, 1872, the Parsi Marriage Act, 1936 and the
Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, all contain provisions for the
registration of the marriages performed under those Acts.
The marriages performed under the Anand Marriage Act
are registered under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, or the
Special Marriages Act, 1954. Registering a Sikh marriage
under the Act titled as the Hindu Marriage Act is deemed by
a majority of the Sikhs to be hurting to their religious
sentiments and to their personal dignity. This is evident from
the following news item:
The 100-year-old marriage Act for Sikhs, the Anand Karj
Marriage Act which was later repealed (sic) was discussed
during the in-camera meeting between Giani Joginder Singh
Vedanti, Jathedar Akal Takht and Mr Tarlochan Singh,
Chairman, National Commission for Minorities (NCM)
during latter’s visit here…. Both Jathedar Vedanti and Mr
Mann told Mr Tarlochan Singh that Sikh girls and boys,
especially from abroad, have been objecting to get their
marriages registered under the Hindu Marriage Act 6 .
On the other hand, the registration process under the Special
Marriage Act, 1954, is comparatively cumbersome and
discriminatory. For example, Section 15(d) of the Special
Marriage Act puts a condition that the parties be at least 21
years at the time of registration of the marriage whereas the
marriageable age in India for females is 18 years only. So, if
a Sikh female marries at the age of 18 years under the Anand
Marriage Act, 1909, her marriage cannot be registered under
the Special Marriage Act for another 3 years. Further,
whereas no notice is required under the Hindu marriage Act
for registration of a validly performed marriage, the
registration process under the Special Marriage Act requires
a public notice of thirty days. This is per se discriminatory.
Thus, under the present circumstances, the pragmatic
approach for registration of the marriages performed under
the Anand Marriage Act is to get them registered under the
Hindu Marriage Act. This causes a confusion regarding the
religious identity of the Sikhs. Col. Amrik Singh (retd.)
observes that the Anand Mar¬riage Act 1909 seems to have
quietly lost its legal significance without it even being
noticed by the Sikhs and now all marriages performed by
Sikhs are registered as Hindu marriages 7 .
Keeping in view such grievances of the Sikhs, and the basic
objectives as enshrined in the Preamble of the Constitution
of India, especially those declaring the values of freedom to
worship, thought, fraternity and dignity, it is imperative that
the provisions for the registration of marriages performed
under the Anand Marriage Act be introduced in the said Act
itself. The main grouse of the communities other than
Hindus is with the title of the Hindu Marriage Act. Even
those Sikh intellectuals who believe that the Hindu Marriage
Act is in consonance with the Sikh ethos seriously debate
the propriety of its title. S. Kashmir Singh points out that the
only irritant is the title of the Act which gives the
impression that all those governed by it are Hindus even
though, according to him, the provisions in the Act are
sufficiently clear to allay such suspicions and
apprehensions. He holds:
The contents of the Act show that it has not been correctly
named. It requires a serious effort on the part of the
legislature to mingle it with SMA and apply it to all the
Indians taking a concrete step towards the Uniform Civil
Code 8 .
The second major reason for the Anand Marriage Act being
of limited applicability is the exemption of marriages
between a Sikh and a non-Sikh from the purview of the Act.
Section 3(a) of the Anand Marriage Act states, “Nothing in
this Act shall apply to- (a) any marriage between persons
not professing the Sikh religion…” By contrast the Hindu
Marriage Act has a much wider applicability. Section 7 of
the Hindu Marriage Act provides: A Hindu marriage may be
solemnized in accordance with the customary rites and
ceremonies of either party thereto. Thus, whereas a marriage
between a Sikh and a non-Sikh performed by the religious
rites of Anand Karj is perfectly valid under the Hindu
Marrige Act, the same is out of the purview of the Anand
Marriage Act, 1909. This makes the Anand Marriage Act
redundant is all such cases. People have found a novel way
out of this situation. Bachittar Singh Giani, describing such
a method, a circuitous one though, writes:
Many cases have come to notice that the bridegroom being a
Sikh and the bride a Hindu, parents of the couple agreed to
solemnise the marriage first in the presence of Holy Aad
Guru Granth Sahib reciting the four lavans, and on the next
occasion according to Hindu rites. The solemnisation of
marriage in such a manner can have effect both ways 9 .
In order to bring the Anand Marriage Act at par with the
Hindu Marriage Act in terms of its applicability, the Anand
Marriage Act should be amended to incorporate provisions
regarding validation of the Marriage between a Sikh and a
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