How The Special Marriage Act Judgment Sends A Message to The State

<div>Amid reports of rampant harassment and arrests of interfaith couples over anti-love jihad legislations, came an important judgment from the Allahabad High Court, which allows interfaith couples to have a safer registration of their marriages under the Special Marriage Act.<br> <br> </div> <div>On 14 January, a single-judge bench of Justice Vivek Chaudhary held that there is no need to mandatorily publish notices for marriages under the Special Marriage Act as is currently required.<br> <br> </div> <div>The court observed that such mandatory notices invade the fundamental rights of liberty and privacy and also affect a couple's freedom to marry a person of their choice, due to interference from state and non-state actors.<br> <br> </div> <div>What this judgment does, is uphold right to privacy and individual autonomy by leaving it up to the couple if they want to request a marriage officer to publish the notice of their union or to not publish it.<br> <br> </div> <div>This, coming at a time when fringe right-wing mobs and even the police have started interfering in unions of interfaith couples in states like Uttar Pradesh, makes it a significant judgment.<br> <br> </div> <div>While this is legal pushback against interference in interfaith marriages under Special Marriage Act, will this be able make a change on the ground as well? And can this judgment in anyway be able to challenge love jihad ordinances?</div> <div> <br> <strong>Producer and Host: </strong>Shorbori Purkayastha<br> <strong>Guests: </strong>Vrinda Grover, Lawyer &amp; Human Rights Activist</div> <div> <strong>Editor:</strong> Shelly Walia</div> <div><br> </div> <div> <strong>Music:</strong> Big Bang Fuzz<br> <br> <strong>Listen to The Big Story podcast on:</strong> </div> <div><br> </div> <div>Apple: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fapple.co%2F2AYdLIl&amp;redir_token=G9sQMbbppKv-LEFD29gDyTmPMzt8MTU3MTM4MDU5NkAxNTcxMjk0MTk2&amp;v=xkpX1V6aUFo&amp;event=video_description">https://ap