Register conversion before marriage

The Law Commission has recommended registration of conversion in court before the marriage to remove the difficulties faced at the time of divorce or separation. It says this will resolve the dispute that crops up during dissolution of a marriage as it is to be decided on the basis of the marriage solemnised under what law.

The Commission headed by Justice P V Reddy has given the recommendation in its 235th report on a reference from the Kerala High Court confronted with the difficulty to decide a divorce case in which a Christian girl had married a Hindu boy under the Hindu traditions. The girl objected to the divorce sought by the boy under the Hindu Marriage Act on the ground that she was a Christian and the Hindu law does not apply to her.

Under the proposed recommendation, those opting for the inter- religion marriage can register their conversion with the Registrar for Marriages a month after the change of religion and the information, including name of person and address, will be displayed on the notice board inviting objections. The registrar will issue certificate of change of religion to the person after 21 days of exhibition of the information.

The Commission says there is no need of framing a new law or any amendments in the existing laws. All that the Centre has to do is to issue an executive order to the states for registration of conversions by the registrars of marriages.

Even without any such order, a person can register his or her conversion to other religion and better marry only after such a conversion is registered to avoid the post-marriage problems.