Two foreign nationals, who got married in India, urged the Delhi High Court on Friday to direct the authorities to register their marriage as they cannot go abroad without registration certificate. The court issued notice and sought response of the Delhi government and the Registrar of Marriages on the petition which said despite repeated requests, their marriage is not being registered online and their offline application was arbitrarily denied.
Justice Rekha Palli granted two days time to the authorities to file their response to the plea and listed the matter for further hearing on August 11. It is expected that in case there is no other bar under the law, respondent no. 2 (Registrar of Marriages) will take expeditious steps to get their marriage registered on fulfilling all the formalities, the court said.
Additional Standing Counsel for the Delhi government Anuj Aggarwal, also representing the Registrar of Marriages, submitted that the concerned SDM has said he will look into matter and do the needful. The couple sought direction to the authorities to register their marriage under the Special Marriage Act and issue them a certificate in offline mode.
The petitioner couple, through advocate Dibyanshu Pandey, said they are foreign nationals and are stuck here due to non-registration of their marriage solemnised in India under Islamic laws. The plea said while the husband is a French national, his wife is an Afghan national and they got married in Delhi in April this year and have been staying here.
It said the woman is required to produce the certificate of marriage registered under The Special Marriage Act for obtaining visa to travel to France from India along with her husband and the e-District Delhi website of the Delhi government requires Aadhaar or Indian voter ID for registration on the portal pursuant to which the application for registration of marriage can be made. However, under The Special Marriage Act, foreign citizens are entitled to get their marriage registered, it said.
The plea said being foreign nationals, the petitioners do not have either of the two documents due to which they have not been able to register on the online portal and their offline application has been arbitrarily denied by the Registrar of Marriages without disclosing the reason. Petitioners who are foreign citizens are entitled for registration of their lawful marriage, under The Special Marriage Act, 1954, and as per the portal of respondent no. 1 (Delhi government) the two aforesaid Indian documents are not mandatory for registration of the marriage, it said.
The couple also said their visas are expiring in August and their future is subjected to gross uncertainty in view of the fact that the woman will have to return to Afghanistan where the prevailing internal disturbances may permanently change the course of her life and also the life of the lawfully wedded couple.
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