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Declare if you fear honour killing: CIC tells couples
NEW DELHI: Couples intending to get married under the special marriage law should be allowed to seek police protection to ensure that they do not become victims
NEW DELHI: Couples intending to get married under the special marriage law should be allowed to seek police protection to ensure that they do not become victims of honour killings, information watchdog Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled.
The CIC has asked the centre and state governments to include a declaration in its marriage forms that lets the couple report a threat to their life. The marriage registrar could convey the threat to the local police station that could provide security if the threat was assessed to be genuine.
But information commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu also made it clear that parents of the young couple had a right to know about the marriage plans of their children.
Acharyulu said it was meaningless for the marriage officer to paste a copy of the notice about marriage proposals on the officer’s notice-board.
Instead, he said it should be uploaded on a website to let interested people (including parents or guardians of the couple) to know, and raise objections to safeguard the interests of the partners to the proposed marriage.
The notice is required to pre-
22-year-old girl Nidhi and boyfriend Dharmender killed by her family in the 2013 after they eloped to get married
A 17-year-old girl is allegedly killed by her parents for an affair with her mother’s foster brother. She was attacked with a sickle and set ablaze last month vent marriage between persons within degrees of prohibited relationship or bigamous marriages. For instance, one of the partners may already have a living spouse or may not have attained prescribed marriageable age.
The commissioner’s ruling came on an appeal by a Delhi resident who complained that some parents were denied their right to know about the marriage of their sons and daughters.
Bhawna Yadav, 21, was allegedly killed by her parents in the Capital and cremated at the family’s native village in Alwar in Rajasthan in 2014
A minor girl is allegedly killed by her father and uncle after she eloped with a boy in May this year
Acharyulu, however, recognised that there was a “negative angle” to all this .
He said if the right of parents to (information) recieve notice of marriage is honoured, it might result in deprivation of the life or liberty of the children.
“Violent social consequences of inter-caste and inter-religious love marriages cannot be ignored. The khap panchayats and their mandates coupled with honour killings are shocking developments emanating from the exercise of freedom of choice of life partner,” Acharyulu said.
“The 1954 law does not have any provision to save fiancées from different castes or religions against will of their parents. The ‘notice’ meant for good cannot be fatal for groom or bride,” he said.
