Chief Khalsa Diwan calls SC decision on Sikh's Anand Marriage Act as historic

The office-bearers of Chief Khalsa Diwan (CKD), in a meeting held here today, called the recent Supreme Court directions in regard to Anand Marriage Act as ‘historic’ and reformational for Sikh identity and marriage.

The Supreme Court has directed several states and union territories to notify within four months the rules for registering ‘Anand Karaj’ or the Sikh wedding ceremony, putting a time-frame to the implementation of the 2012 amendment in Anand Marriage Act, 1902.

In a statement, Chief Khalsa Diwan president Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar expressed happiness and said that the decision is going to strengthen the religious rights of the Sikh community and Sikh identity. He said that the founder of Chief Khalsa Diwan, Sundar Singh Majithia, with the support of other Sikh leaders, had started a campaign to make a unique law to give legal recognition to Sikh marriage (Anand Karaj) and had played a significant role in getting enacted the Anand Marriage Act, 1909.

“This historic decision is a fulfillment of the long-standing demand of the Sikh community and a victory for the Sikh Panthic identity,” said Dr Nijjar.

In its September 4 order, the SC bench said when the law recognises ‘Anand Karaj’ as a valid form of marriage yet leaves no machinery to register it, the “promise was only half kept”. Despite being in existence for over a century, the law wasn’t implemented till 2012, when both Houses of Parliament passed the Anand Marriage Amendment Bill, 2012, legalising the Sikh traditional marriages and allowing their registration. While the Anand Marriage Act of 1909 was enacted to recognise the validity of marriages performed by the Sikh ceremony of ‘Anand Karaj’, they were registered under the Hindu Marriage Act before the 2012 amendment.

The CKD office-bearers hoped that in compliance with the orders of the Supreme Court, the state governments and union territories would soon issue notifications in this regard to make the registration process easier and faster, so that Sikh marriages can be registered under the Anand Marriage Act.