The Hindu Marriage Act applies to the religious folds that came up during the 6th century BC and also in 18th and 19th century AD which include Sikhs.
Sikh groups have always said that their community members used to face difficulty overseas as their marriage certificates were issued under the Hindu Marriage Act.
Great news for Sikhs in Delhi as Lt. Governor Anil Baijal has passed the Anand Marriage Act. He has approved to notify the terms of Act that was pending for the longest time.
In Delhi, marriages in Sikh community will no longer be registered under the Hindu Marriage Act, instead will be registered under Anand Marriage Act as Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal granted his approval to notify the regulations in the capital, confirmed an official of the Lt. Governor office who did not wish to be named.
The spokesperson said that once the rules get notified within a couple of days, members of Sikh community will not have to get their marriages registered under the Hindu Marriage Act any longer.
“L-G has approved the file of Delhi government with regard to the implementation of the Anand Marriage Act. The revenue department will now notify it,” added the official.
While expressing his gratitude towards Lt. Governor Anil Baijal and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh for implementing this act in Delhi, Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Rajouri Garden (Delhi) and Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) General Secretary, Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that Anand Marriage Act has long-standing demand in the Sikh community and finally it has been implemented in the National Capital after 109 years since it was originally demanded by the Sikh community. Sikh community first demanded the implementation of this act ay back in the year 1909.
Sikhs demanded Anand Marriage Act when they realized that the marriage certificate issued to Sikhs under Hindu Marriage Act created disagreement in legal dealings for the Sikhs mentioning Sikhism as their religion.
Marriages in Sikh community are called ‘Anand Karaj’; hence it was important that the Marriage certificate specified the term Anand Karaj.
The Akali Dal initiated the demand for this Act. Popular Akali leader, Sundar Singh Majithia emphasized the requirement of a law to regulate Sikh marriages and how it was going to help them in legal dealings.
Only a few people know that a long battle been fought to pass the Act and implement it. Finally, it has happened for the betterment of the Sikh community.
Sikhs living abroad were going through hard times as their marriage certificate was under Hindu Marriage Act while their religion was cited as Sikh. As a result, this forgotten demand was brought back once again. Sikhs will not face such issues once they are able to register their marriages under Anand Marriage Act.
According to Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal’s wish to have this marriage act implemented in the entire nation; Sirsa has been pursuing this issue with various administrators and governments.
This act has already been implemented in all the states of the country with a majority of the Sikh population including Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, apart from other states.
“Its implementation in the National Capital was of most important as large numbers of Sikhs are residing in National Capital also, DSGMC General Secretary also appealed to the members of the Sikh community to get their marriages registered under the act and get the benefit of it,” stated Sirsa.
A few days ago, Delhi Revenue Minister, Kailash Gahlot had confirmed that final provision of the Anand Marriage Act is in its final stage. Last year, a delegation of Sikh community, supervised by AAP legislators, insisted the Delhi government implement the provisions of the Anand Marriage Act early.
