Publishing of notice for interfaith marriages will be optional, rules Allahabad high court

The case before the high court was a habeas corpus petition filed by a Hindu man on behalf of his wife, a Muslim woman who had converted to Hinduism so they could get married. After the wedding, which took place as per Hindu customs, the woman’s family did not permit her to live with her husband.

As the couple were both adults who had chosen to marry and live together, the high court had held that her custody by her father was illegal, and had her produced before the court. The father accepted the couple’s right to marry and live together in the high court.

However, while the case was going on, the couple had informed the court that they could have tried to get their marriage solemnized under the Special Marriage Act rather than have the woman convert to Hinduism, but the 30 day public notice and objection procedure would have been an invasion of their privacy and “would have definitely caused unnecessary social pressure/interference in their free choice with regard to their marriage.”