India's 'Secular' Marriage Law: A Sham for Interfaith Couples?

When Swarna Ekambaram, a Hindu, decided to marry her Christian boyfriend last year, sub-registrars refused to accept their application under the Special Marriage Act (SMA) 1954.

“They demanded we bring our parents, who were against our marriage. That’s not what the law says,” says Swarna. “The act exists to facilitate secular, civil marriages, and enable inter-faith or inter-caste couples to marry without conversion.” The couple gave up trying to register their marriage in Chennai and tried instead in her hometown Kancheepuram, where they were subject to interrogation by the sub-registrar.





Salem-based Shanmugapriya M describes her wedding as more traumatic than memorable. “My Muslim husband’s didn’t approve of our marriage, but the sub-registrar asked us to call our parents. We had to get a lawyer to intervene and that’s how we finally got married,” she says.

India, which has a progressive law and even equates live-in relationships to marriage (Allahabad high court ruling 2025), seems to draw the line at interfaith relationships. Ramesh T, lawyer and secretary of Tamil Nadu Intercaste and Inter Religion Couples Welfare Association, who has conducted more than 500 interfaith marriages across the state, says sub-registrars have “unchecked power” and no one holds them accountable. “They enage in moral policing,” says Ramesh.

“Sometimes, they ask the couple to get married at a temple, mosque, or church and then come to the office to get it registered. They do this knowing no place of worship will solemnise an interfaith marriage unless either of them converts.” Section 12 of the SMA states that the marriage only requires both parties to declare they take each other as lawful spouses in the presence of the officer and three witnesses.

“Sub-registrars usually give couples a hard time because they fear violence from caste and religion groups. Some just expect exorbitant bribes,” says Ramesh.

Selvi, a member of Manithi, a group that helps interfaith and intercaste couples get married, says, the entire process costs less than `1,000 but most couples are forced to pay bribes of `50,000 just to have their application accepted. “Once a couple is legally married, they are entitled to protection,” says Selvi. “However, parents file missing complaints even if the couple left their homes voluntarily. In several cases, the boy is detained under false charges, while the woman is locked up at home. A habeas corpus petition needs to be filed to allow the couple to appear before court and have the complaint dismissed.”

Ramesh says there is also requirement for an ‘unmarried certificate’ to certify that the applicant has never been legally married. “Officials visit the applicant’s residence for a background check about marital history. The verification process alerts the family, which is what most couples are seeking to avoid,” says Ramesh.

Retired Madras high court judge Justice K Chandru says it’s time for the SMA to be amended, especially when couples are murdered by their families in caste killings. In Arumuga Servai vs State of Tamil Nadu (2011), Supreme Court reiterated the legal position of causing physical harm to a couple, stating that the acts needed to be “ruthlessly stamped out”, directing officials to institute criminal proceedings against those responsible, and chargesheet and suspend officials if they had knowledge of the crime but did not prevent it.

“These SC sermons never percolate to lower courts,” says Chandru. “In TN, there is an increase in cases of caste killing. The govt has appointed the Justice K N Basha Committee to submit a report about the need for a special law on caste killings.”

He adds that what is required today is a “non-ritualistic, non-religious civil wedding registration process”. “Apart from a simplified law, the state must remove the power of the registrars and hand it to the state family welfare department. Officers need to undergo a sensitivity programme to handle this better,” says Chandru.

“The govt talks about Uniform Civil Code but even after 78 years of Independence, they have not brought about a simple law for interfaith couples to marry.”



Around the world

Turkey | Abolished religious courts for marriage in 1920s. Only civil marriages are legally valid

Lebanon | Marriage governed by more than 15 religious courts. Many couples travel abroad (usually Cyprus) for a civil marriage and register it in Lebanon

Scotland | Humanist marriage, similar to self-respect marriage, is legal in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland, but not in UK. Demands have been on since 2013