Arya Samaj certificate does not prove marriage: Allahabad HC

Taking serious note of frequent use of marriage certificates issued by the Arya Samaj societies, the Allahabad High Court has said that they are misusing beliefs in organising marriages without considering the genuineness of documents.

Hearing a habeas corpus petition, the court observed that Arya Samaj societies were issuing marriage certificates without proper solemnisation of marriages, and added that marriage could not be proved only on the basis of this certificate.

Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery said, "The court is flooded with marriage certificates issued by different Arya Samaj Societies which have been seriously questioned during different proceedings of this court as well as by other high courts. The institution has misused its beliefs in organising marriages without even considering the genuineness of documents."

The habeas corpus petition was filed by one Bhola Singh who had produced a certificate issued by Arya Samaj Mandir, Ghaziabad, to claim that he was legally married to "petitioner number 2".

"Since the marriage has not been registered, it cannot be deemed only on the basis of the said certificate that the two parties have married," the court observed in its decision.

"In the present case, the corpus is a major and an FIR has been lodged against the petitioner number 1 (husband) by the father of petitioner number 2 (wife), and investigation is undergoing. Therefore, there is no case of illegal detention," the court said.

According to a report in LiveLaw, Supreme Court had, in June 2022, refused to accept a marriage certificate issued by Arya Samaj while considering the bail application of an accused against whom FIR was registered for offences relating to kidnap and rape of a minor under Sections 363, 366A, 384, 376(2)(n), 384 IPC and Section 5(L)/6 of the POCSO Act.

Rejecting the submissions of the counsel that the prosecutrix who had leveled allegations of rape was a major girl and marriage between the petitioner and the prosecutrix had already taken place at Arya Samaj, the vacation bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and BV Nagarathna orally said :

"Arya Samaj has no business giving marriage certificate. This is the work of authorities. Show the real certificate."