Supreme Court Dismisses Plea Challenging Advance Notice Mandate Under Special Marriage Act. A Major Loss For The Rights To Privacy!
On Monday, the Supreme Court of India rejected a Public Interest Litigation which challenged the mandate for advance notice under the Special Marriage Act of 1954 (SMA). This mandate forces inter-caste couples to publish all their private details including their contact information and address in a daily gazette, 30 days before their marriage under the Special Marriage Act. This is majorly concerning and change is, without a doubt, the need of the hour as it puts all the couples in an exposed and dangerous situation.
This act leaves these couples vulnerable to public objection and scrutiny and, of course, to the awful repercussions that they might have to face from their own families, as well. The act has been there since 1954 and hasn’t been rectified, questioned or changed for ages, isn’t that beyond awful?
What Happened During The Case’s Hearing?
At the very beginning of the hearing itself, Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Bela M Trivedi from the Supreme Court questioned, “Challenging the constitutional validity in this petition is abstract. See, you are not an aggrieved person. We are trying to understand, if we take up this constitutional validity at your instance and pronounce on it that it is valid against you, would that bind everybody? Where is the genuine litigant who has got a grievance against these provisions?”
Although, when the senior Advocate Ravi Shankar Jandhyala who was appearing on behalf of the petitioner contested this statement by submitting the fact that the latter was in fact, aggrieved because she had gotten married to her partner from a different religion under the Special Marriage Act. In reponse the Supreme Court bench declared that if this is the case then this ceases to be Public Interest Litigation and instead, turns into a petition based on a personal cause. The Apex Court then rejected the petition on the basis of the abovementioned cause.
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Further, the petition questioned the provision of the Special Marriage Act stating that it’s violative of the Article 14, 15 and 21 of the Indian Constitution. The petitioner stated that the provision not only allows other people to object to the marriage but also empowers the Marriage Office to probe the same. The petition further stated that the provision is a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India as the requirement of notice before marriage is absent in the Hindu Marriage Act as well as the customary laws in Islam provision, making it discriminatory in nature. It further argued that the mandate violates the right to privacy under Article 21 as it requires a couple intending to marry to publish their private and personal details on a public platform.
The petition also argued that the publication of the couples’ personal information doesn’t actually serve any purpose for the state or the government. It just leaves the couple vulnerable to public hate, violence, crime and scrutiny. And we agree!
The Special Marriage Act is usually used by inter-faith couples, many of whom have eloped out of fear of their families’ anger and the fear of being victims of honour killings. And to be forced to share their personal information not only makes them vulnerable to threats but also makes it difficult to carry through with their intent to marry. The rapid increase in honour killings as well as cases of Love Jihad not only puts the lives of these couples at risk but also makes them easily accessible to their family’s hatred and scrutiny. With this petition, Athira R Menon i.e. the petitioner sought to bring a positive change to the Special Marriage Act that makes it more understanding, and supportive of the couple’s Right to Privacy and doesn’t put them in a vulnerable spot.
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We sincerely hope that we can make this change in the Constitution of India as a whole too, in the near future itself, to protect the rights of couples. After all, making them sacrifice their privacy just to get married isn’t justified, is it?
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