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11th March,
2008
SIKH MARRIAGE ACT SOON
Bowing to a long-standing demand of the Sikhs, the government is planning to
bring in a separate law governing marriages in the community. Currently,
marriages of Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains are governed under the Hindu
Marriage Act, 1955.
Union Law Minister HR Bhardwaj told the Rajya Sabha on Monday that the
government has taken note of demands in this regard from various Sikh
organisations and "there should not be a problem" in introducing such an
act."We will bring it soon," he said, replying to supplementary questions.
Various Sikh bodies, including the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee
(SGPC) have been demanding separate law governing the marriages in the
community. They argue that Sikhism is a separate religion and solemnization
of their marriages under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 was not proper.
Expressing gratitude to the UPA government, S Paramjit Singh Sarna,
president of the Gurudwara Management Committee, said, “We are happy that
UPA chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are sensitive
towards our demand. We want that the Sikh marriages be registered under the
act meant for the community and not under the Hindu Marriage Act, as it is
presently.”
While some experts says that the Sikh Marriage Act will not be significantly
different from the Hindu Marriage Act, S Manjit Singh Khaira, senior
advocate at the Punjab High Court who had drafted the proposal for the Sikh
Marriage Act for Pakistan said, “In the Act for Sikhs only some Hindu
specific sections have been removed, the rest of it is exactly the same.”
According to Khaira, the Hindu Marriage Act is all encompassinga s it has a
provision making it applicable to Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains as well.
However, Sarna said the Sikh Marriage Act is different and will mention the
marriage conditions specific to the Sikh community.
With inputs from and
agencies
Jaya
Shroff,
Hindustan
Times, New Delhi
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