NEW DELHI – Sikhs will now be able to register their marriages under the Anand Marriage Act, with Parliament assenting the legislation on Tuesday.
Support for the legislation came amid strong demand from Congress MP Partap Singh Bajwa for separate personal laws for the community to cater to marriages and divorce, maintenance, succession, guardianship and adoption. He said Sikh personal laws should be accepted like those for Christians, Parsis and Muslims.
The bill received unanimous backing in Lok Sabha, with law minister Salman Khurshid saying that while the legislation had taken time, it was a “symbolic gesture” upholding the principles of UPA that reasonable demands of all social and regional groups should be respected.
The Anand Marriage Act, a longstanding demand of the Sikh community, was passed by Rajya Sabha on Monday.
It has been a tricky issue for Sikhs since the Anand Act, enacted in 1909, had no provision for registration of marriage which continued to be registered under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
Speakers like Akali Dal’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Congress’s Bajwa said the absence of registration of marriage under the Anand Karaj Act created complications since it was difficult to explain why a Sikh marriage certificate was issued under the Hindu Marriage Act.
Badal said the law would give an identity to Sikhs but demanded that the government take the issue to its logical conclusion and amend Article 25 of the Constitution to identify Sikhism as a distinct religious identity.
Bajwa, while crediting his party with respecting the sentiments of Sikhs, demanded separate personal laws for the community. “If we see the reality from the legal perspective, the question of registration of marriages under the Anand Marriage Act will not lead to any significant development regarding the separate law of marriage and divorce for the Sikh community,” he said.
Sikh organizations also welcomed the passing of this important Act. “This has happened for the first time that Sikhs did not have to start a morcha (agitation) for getting their demand accepted by the Union government,” said Shiromani Panthic Council chairman Manjit Singh Calcutta soon after the passing of Anand Marriage Act in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
He said it was a long pending demand of Sikhs which had finally been accepted by the Centre. He said now there was need to amend Section 25B of Indian Constitution wherein Sikhs have been described as Hindus. Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president Paramjit Singh Sarna termed it as a “historical day for Sikhs, who would now be able to register their marriages under their own Act”.
President of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Avtar Singh Makkar said that it was the struggle of Sikh leadership that had resulted into this historic moment. He said there was need to make certain amendments in the Act for which Sikhs would continue to struggle.
