Marriage registration in India requires the presence of at least two witnesses. There are multiple benefits of marriage registration, and legalities in marriage can also be beneficial for the legal heirs to the property.
In India, we have the pre-eminence of the Hindu Marriage Act and the Special Marriage Act under which the marriage registration happens. The basic premises of the Marriage Acts call for attaining the right age before the bride and the bridegroom applies for a marriage. Certain other associated official formalities need to be completed, for instance, furnishing the major identity proofs of the bride, the bridegroom, and the witnesses. After one month that the party willing to marry submits all documents, the bride and the bridegroom should be accompanied by two witnesses and appear in front of the marriage officer.
Also, since the witnesses also become a part of the ratification of the marriage process, it becomes mandatory to check that they have no criminal background or there is no legal injunction pending against them. After this, if any objection arises, or if there is any question from either of the sides, till that point of time, the marriage officer shall not solemnize the marriage. If there is no objection, when all the prerequisites are fulfilled, then the marriage officer, in the presence of the witnesses, administers an oath of marriage that declares the two parties willing to marry as husband and wife. The sanctity of the Indian marriage is retained with these oaths that are considered to be pious. In the case of the Indian marriage registration process, in case any dispute arises regarding the marriage party or the witness, the registering officers in the concerned jurisdiction are liable to solve any problems.
Steps Involved in Registration of Marriage
Several steps are involved in the marriage registration process, and marriage registration gets completed only when there is the required number of witnesses. Given below are the steps to be followed for any successful marriage registration:
- Marriage registration online is extremely hassle-free and easy, and there is almost a reduced chance of a manual error being present in the process. There is a complete absence of meeting with the marriage registrar every time, standing for long waiting hours, etc
- The applicant can log into the government’s website for marriage registration. This varies from one state to another. The form is available on the website, and after this, the personal details of the bride and the groom should be supplied
- Once all the points are filled up, the form must be submitted. After the form submission is done online, the marriage registrar keeps track of the application and calls the applicant on a particular date at a particular time. During this time, witnesses should be present from both the bride and the groom’s side on the actual day of solemnisation
- The applicant should check that all the details of the applicants and the witnesses should be carefully filled up; if there is any mistake, this will only add too many other paper complications. In the case of the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, the date and time that the marriage registrar allots are tentatively fifteen to thirty days after the applicant submits the form. In the case of the Special Marriage Act of 1954, however, the duration can go up to around 60 days.
Marriage Registration Procedure
For all those individuals who find the entire system of online marriage registration to be complicated, they usually go for the offline registration with manual submission of all the official documents:
- There should not be an existing spouse or another marriage that is not dissolved by the time an applicant files for marriage registration.
- The parties to the marriage should have full consent and not be unsound of mind. Moreover, the legal marriage acts in India also point out that there should be no incestuous or prohibited relationship between the parties willing to marry.
- As the preliminary process, the application should be submitted. The bride and groom should supply age proofs and residential proofs, identity proofs, etc. They should submit ₹100 if they want to register their marriage under the Hindu Marriage Act and ₹150 if they want to register the marriage under the Special Marriage Act.
Role of Witness in Case of Marriage
For successful marriage registration, The Witness is very important. The witness is not a silent spectator to the process. The witness has active signing authority for the process to get solemnized. There should be three witnesses from the side of the bride and groom. The declaration gets signed in front of the witnesses, and the registrar makes the bride and groom take the marriage oath in front of the witnesses.
The registrar also needs the address proofs, government identity proofs, and PAN card details of the witness. While submitting the online and offline application, the registrar also submits every detail of the witness.
Sometimes, there might be some adverse situations, for instance, if the registrar or the court finds out that either the bride/ groom or both of them have not yet reached the marriable age, or in case of school dropouts and child marriage, there might be an urgent need of a witness to come and give evidence of the age of either/ both parties as required. If there is any legal hassle that the bride/ groom and their families must go through, or if there is a non-disclosure of the necessary information, the witness can also be in legal trouble.
Conclusion
For the smooth conduct of any marriage registration: https://services.india.gov.in/service/detail/online-application-of-marriage-certificate the witness must be informed beforehand of their role. Even after years of marriage, if there is any legal dispute between the spouse, the court can also summon the witness if deemed necessary. The same applies to those cases where any/both spouses are involved in any criminal activity. To know more about marriage registrations in India, you can get in touch with the experts of Vakilsearch.
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