Madhya Pradesh High Court dismisses interfaith couple's plea for police protection, marriage registration

In their petition, the couple had sought direction from the court for police protection and registration of their marriage under the Special Marriage Act stating they will continue to follow their respective religions after marriage.

Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has dismissed an interfaith couple’s pleas seeking police protection and registration of their marriage, observing that the union of a Muslim man with a “fire-worshipper” woman is not a valid wedding as per Muslim law.

“As per Mahomedan law, the marriage of a Muslim boy with a girl who is an idolatress or a fire-worshipper is not a valid marriage. Even if the marriage is registered under Special Marriage Act, the marriage would be no more a valid marriage and it would be an irregular (fasid) marriage,” a bench of HC comprising Justice G S Ahluwalia observed.

“It is not the case of the petitioners that in case marriage is not performed, then they are still interested to live in a live-in relationship. It is also not the case of petitioners that petitioner No.1 would accept Muslim religion. Under these circumstances, this court is of the considered opinion that no case is made out warranting interference,'' the bench’s order of Monday read.

The court dismissed the petitions of Sarika Sen (23) and Safee Khan (23), both hailing from Anuppur district of Madhya Pradesh.

In their petition, Sen and Khan had sought direction from the court for police protection and registration of their marriage under the Special Marriage Act stating they will continue to follow their respective religions after marriage.

According to the petitioners' lawyer Dinesh Upadhyay, his clients had applied to the Anuppur district magistrate to get married in October.

''The hearing on it is on and the final order has not yet come. So the couple had moved the High Court. In their plea, they stated that as they are going in for inter-religion marriage, the woman's parents were unhappy and against it,'' Upadhyay told reporters.

According to the petitioners, the woman's parents, their relatives and an outfit called Hindu Dharm Sena were mounting pressure on her and threatening the man with dire consequences and, thus, they were unable to attend the hearings to get married, Upadhyay said.