Lucknow: In a judgement that is likely to bring relief to inter-faith couples, the Allahabad High Court Wednesday declared as optional the mandatory publication of notice of intended marriages under the Special Marriage Act, saying it violated the Right To Privacy.
Making such publication mandatory would invade in the fundamental rights of liberty and privacy, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court said. It would also affect the couple’s freedom to choose marriage “without interference from state and non-state actors”, Justice Vivek Chaudhary said in his 47-page order.
He said it shall be optional for the parties to the intended marriage to make a request in writing to the marriage officer to publish or not to publish such a notice.
If the couple did not intend so, the marriage officer has to solemnise their marriage forthwith without publication of 30 days notice, the order said.
A section of the Special Marriage Act, 1954, requires an…