Martin Luther King Jr. 16 April 1963 My Dear Fellow Clergymen: While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms. I think I should indicate why I am here in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against "outsiders coming in." I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in
Can't Inter Faith Couples Marry Without Changing Their Religion? Madhya Pradesh HC Misinterprets Special Marriage Act
X and Y are a couple in love. They have both attained marriageable age. X is a Muslim boy and Y is a Hindu girl and both of them do not want to change their religion. So can they marry? Obviously, they can marry, thanks to the Special Marriage Act of 1954 (SMA). The very objective of SMA is to provide a special form of marriage which can be taken advantage of by any person in India and irrespective of the faith which either party to the marriage may profess. However, X and Y, faced some threats from family members and thus could not appear before the Marriage Officer. They knocked the door of the Madhya Pradesh High Court seeking police protection. The issue before the Court should have been whether the petitioners deserve to be provided with a police protection to exercise their right to marry. But strangely, the Court got obsessed with the issue whether the marriage of a Muslim boy with a Hindu girl is a valid marriage or not? The court noted that, as per Mahomedan law, the marriag