CHENNAI: A Division Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to take action against an advocate for manipulating documents to show a minor boy as a major to get his marriage registered.
The Bench of Justices C T Selvam and N Sathish Kumar, which gave the directive, also directed the Inspector General of Registration in Santhome to take departmental action against the sub-registrar in Poonamallee, who registered the marriage.
The Bench was closing a habeas corpus petition by one V Ganesan of Peelamadu in Coimbatore to restore his 19 year-old daughter, who got married to one Michael Vignesh on January 22 last. The judges were informed by the couple on February 6 last that the entire arrangements for marriage had been made by their advocate, identified as E Lenin.
A perusal of the entire documents would show that they had been prepared by the advocate and manipulated to show Vignesh is a major to get the marriage registered. “We were pained to note this. Legal profession is not meant for conducting marriages,” the Bench said.
Hence, the Bench considered it appropriate to refer the matter to the TN Bar Council for appropriate action. It directed the Registry to forward the entire set of papers pertaining to the habeas corpus petition and the copies of the certificates produced before the court, to the council.
The Bench also noted that the sub-registrar in Poonamallee had casually resorted to registration of the marriage without due and proper verification of the age of the boy and the girl. In this regard, the IG of Registration shall conduct necessary inquiry and take appropriate action legally, the Bench added.