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