"SELF RESPECT MARRIAGE"

CONTEXT :

"Lawyers can solemnise 'self respect marriage' under amended Hindu Marriage law in Tamil Nadu" in personal capacity.

Why In NEWS :

Supreme Court Order on the validity of 'self-respect' marriages, and observed that there is no blanket ban on advocates solemnising "self-respect" marriage under Section 7(A) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

In doing so, a Bench of Justices set aside a 2014 ruling of the Madras High Court holding that marriages performed by the advocates are not valid and that "suyamariyathai" or "self-respect marriages" cannot be solemnised in secrecy.

SELF RESPECT MARRIAGES :

Self-Respect Marriage Law was lagalized in 1968 by the state of Tamil Nadu. The law allows two Hindus to marry in the presence of friends or relatives without the need for a Brahmin priest or elaborate rituals. The law requires the consent of both parties, who must meet the minimum age requirement for marriage.

Its disregards Brahminical rituals, caste endogamy, religious restrictions, and gender norms.

:

• Lawyers can attend a "self-marriage" ceremony and be witnesses as friends/relatives/social activists etc, but not in professional capacity (as an officer of the court).

Sec 7-A of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 provides for special marriage in the presence of relatives, friends, or other persons-

(a) by each party to the marriage declaring in any language understood by the parties that each take the other to be his wife, or as the case may be, her husband; or

(b) by each party to the marriage garlanding the other or putting a ring upon any finger of the other; or

(c) by the tying of the thali a sacred thread of gold worn by the married wife after marriage.

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