A view of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. File photograph
Holding that “the societal opposition to interreligion marriage often makes it difficult for couples to exercise their legal rights”, the Indore Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on April 18 quashed a three-year-old case of dishonest towards a married couple from Ujjain and the supervisor of a temple the place their marriage was carried out.
The matter pertains to the inter-faith wedding ceremony of a Christian man and a Hindu lady in Ujjain’s Neelkantheshwar temple in May 2019, and the next registration of a First Information Report (FIR) below Section 420 (dishonest) of the Indian Penal Code in 2020 on the idea of a criticism filed by the lady’s father. While Ramesh Maharaj, supervisor of the Neel Kantheshwar Mahadev Bhakth Mandal Samiti, was named because the accused initially, the title of the husband and spouse have been added later on the charge-sheet stage.
Emphasising on the harassment confronted by such couples due to opposition from the households of the partner(s), Justice Vivek Rusia mentioned that such opposition usually led to “harassment, threats, and violence against the couple”.
“In conclusion, inter-religion marriage in India is legally permissible, but it is not without its challenges. The legal framework governing inter-religion marriage is complex and requires the couples to navigate several legal hurdles,” mentioned the order.
On the case, the court docket mentioned that the costs have been quashed as a result of dishonest was not made out within the case, and that it lacked any fraudulent or dishonest inducement, which is an an important ingredient of the offence below Section 415 of the IPC that defines dishonest.
“Undisputedly, applicant No.1 follows the Christian religion and the applicant No.2 belongs to the Hindu religion but they both were majors and there is no bar under any law that they cannot perform the marriage or even if they have performed the marriage they have not violated any penal provisions of IPC,” the order mentioned.
