THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: From now, no religious documents are needed for marriage registration. The state government has issued a circular making it clear that no documents to prove one’s religion or to prove that the marriage was held as per religious rituals were required to register marriage in local bodies.
As per the Kerala Registration of Marriages (Common) Rules 2008, all marriages in the state should be registered. Later an amendment was brought in 2015, as per which, any relation made by an agreement or by any other mode in the name of marriage, other than marriages solemnized as per any law in force in India or as per religious rituals, shall not be registered under the Kerala Registration of Marriage Rules.
It is in this backdrop that many couples approached the state government with complaints that registrars kept posing hurdles using this very clause, when it came to registering certain marital unions.
“In the light of the Kerala Registration of Marriages (Common) Rules 2008 and the SC verdict, there’s no need to seek documents to prove the religion of the parties or to prove that marriage was held as per religious rituals,” said the order by LSGD additional chief secretary Sarada Muraleedharan.