DR RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

2020-21

Family law -1
Title- “Status of inter-caste marriage in India.”

Submitted by Submitted to
HARDIK YADAV DR. Samreen Hussain
190101059 Assistant professor(family law)
B.A. LL.B (HONS.) DR. RMLNLU
3rd semester

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT…………………………………………………3
INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………….4
RELEVANT SECTIONS ………………………………………………….5
PROBLEMS AND THREAT FACED BY THE VICTIMS……………..6
STATISTICAL DATA ON INTER-CASTE MARRIAGE………………9
IMMEDIATE MEASURES………………………………………………10
MAJOR RECENT CASES BEFORE THE COURT……………………10
CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………11
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………13

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thanks everyone who helped me in making this project
work especially in these tough times ,a special thanks to our
professor DR. Samreen hussain maam for being a constant support
and I would like to thanks to my friends , fellow batchmates, library
staff and seniors for their guidance.

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INTRODUCTION

The caste system has been prevailing in india since time immemorial. The cast system has
been believed to been originated in vedic period, Manu’s law also constructs a shudra man as
subhuman and legitimises violence against “untouchables” (Manu, IX 17) There are many of
these depressing views in ancient indian scripture which tells us the mindset of how we
have evolved and still carried that stigma of casteism in the modern world one of the evil
result of this varna system is the opposition of inter-caste marriage in our society.

While a lot of positive change has happened since then but we are still as a country not
matching up with the rapidly changing world and the caste based discrimination is probably
the biggest hindrance.

We are now here to discuss about the present condition of inter-caste marriages in india. In
several Indian States, other than the fear of dilution of particular societal values nurtured in
particular societies, such sorts of love marriages are also discouraged for the fear of
distribution of property to people from other caste(religion also but our focus would be on the
caste aspect more). In the medieval and colonial periods, social reformers in India including
Raja Ram Mohan Roy from eastern India, especially Bengal, Subramania Bharathi and E. V.
R. Periyar from Madras Province etc. fought for abolition of caste /religion/racial
discrimination in every field including marriages. Such reformatory ideology was carried in
to modern Indian constitution by Dr B. R. Ambedkar, who framed the Constitution of the
modern India. The first few provisions of the Constitution of India including Article 14
(equal protection of laws to all), Article 15(prohibition of discrimination on grounds of race,
religion, caste, sex or place of birth), Article 21 of the constitution (Right to life, liberty and
property) etc. are the anti-discriminatory provisions which guarantee equal rights to all
citizens including right to marry according to one’s own choice. This very understanding was
reached by the Supreme Court of India in the case of Lata Singh vs. State of U.P(#). and
another (2006).2
Nevertheless, inter-caste marriages are still not accepted by many societies in India. Such
marriages may often see devastating results including honour killing or forced separation by
families. Even though India has laws for facilitating such sorts of mixed marriages, oftener
than not, the purpose of the said law, namely Special Marriages Act, 1954 failed miserably
due to various reasons including unawareness of the interested stakeholders.

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We would look into the problems in detail but first we need a background knowledge of the
piece of legislation which is there for the inter-caste, inter-religion marriage i.e. The Special
marriage act,1954.

SPECIAL MARRIAGE ACT

The special marriage act provides for the performance of marriage by civil ceremony and any
two people of opposite sex can marry through the act.

Section - 7
Objection to marriage :-
1. Any person may, before the expiration of thirty days from the date on which any such
notice has been published under sub-section(2) of Section 6, object to the marriage on the
ground that it would contravene one or more of the conditions specified in section 4.
2. After the expiration of thirty days from the date on which notice of an intended marriage
has been published under sub-section(2) of section 6, the marriage may be solemnized, unless
it has been previously objected to under sub-section (1).
3. The nature of the objection shall be recorded in writing by the Marriage Officer in the
Marriage Notice Book, be read over and explained, if necessary, to the person making the
objection and shall be signed by him or on his behalf.

Section - 11
Declaration by parties and witnesses :-
Before the marriage is solemnized the parties and three witnesses shall, in the presence of the
Marriage Officer, sign a declaration in the form specified in the Third Schedule to this Act,
and the declaration shall be countersigned by the Marriage Officer.

Section - 12
Place and form of solemnisation :-
1. The marriage may be solemnized at the office of the Marriage Officer, or at such other
place within a reasonable distance therefrom as the parties may desire and upon such
conditions and the payment of such additional fees as may be prescribed.
2. The marriage may be solemnized in any form which the parties may choose to adopt;
Provided that it shall not be complete and binding on the parties, unless each party says to the
other in the presence of the Marriage Officer and the three witnesses and in any language
understood by the parties, “I,(A) take the (B), to be my lawful wife (or husband)”.

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Section – 15
Registration of marriages celebrated in other forms :-
Any marriage celebrated, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, other than a
marriage solemnized under the Special Marriage Act, 1872 (3 of 1872) or under this Act,
may be registered under this Chapter by a Marriage Officer in the territories to which Act
extends if the following conditions are fulfilled, namely-
1. a ceremony of marriage has been performed between the parties and they have been living
together as husband and wife ever since;
2. neither party has at the time of registration more than one spouse living;
3. neither party is an idiot or a lunatic at the time of registration;
4. the parties have completed the age of twenty-one years at the time of registration;
5. the parties are not within the degrees of prohibited relationship; provided that in the case of
a marriage celebrated before the commencement of this Act, this condition shall be subject to
any law, custom or usage having the force of law governing each of them which permits of a
marriage between the two; and
6. the parties have been residing with in the district of the Marriage Officer for a period of not
less than thirty days immediately preceding the date on which the application is made to him
for registration of the marriage.

Now we have gone through all the relevant section of our project work we would divide our
rest of the work in three parts namely- 1) the problem faced by the intercaste-married
couples, 2) Statistical data on inter-caste marriage , 3)courts stand on inter-caste marriage and
conclusion with some reforms to be suggested .

PROBLEMS AND THREATS FACED BY THE MARRIED COUPLE

Some of the biggest problems faced by these couples would be
1) Honor killing
2) Khap panchayats
3) Disownment from the family
4) Discrimination from the people and harassment .

1)HONOR KILLING
Honor killing, or shame killing, is the murder of a member of a family, due to the
perpetrators' belief that the victim has brought shame or dishonor upon the family, or
has violated the principles of a community or a religion. The biggest threat to the
victim couple has to face in an inter-caste marriage is of honour killing. As the words
indicate the family and relatives of the victim believed that they have brought
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 dishonour to the family, caste and community by marrying to the people of different
caste and that the honour would be restored only when the one who bought dishonour
would be killed. And the biggest problem is that the police neither does only not
provide security to the victim couple but also sometime have aided the relatives in
locating the couples and in an incident in Punjab the policemen have themselves
being accused of killing the couple. This shows us how deeply rooted is casteism in
our society and inter-caste marriage is one of the many evils arising from this. The
more influential the family in their village the more the life is in danger of the victim
couples because they are left on their own.

Honor killings are notoriously underreported – not by the media, but by the State.
India’s latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report recorded only one
instance of honor killing in 2018 in the country, in Delhi. The year before, it again
recorded only one case, this time in Surat, Gujarat. According to the report, there were
no such cases in Tamil Nadu during both years. However, in the last five years,
according to field investigations and studies by Evidence, an NGO working to protect
the human rights of Dalit and Tribal people in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, there
have been 195 known cases of honor killings in Tamil Nadu alone.

The lack of a specific law to deal with these particular crimes, in which ‘honor’ is the
common motive, results in them being reported under myriad laws, making them
nearly impossible to track. Honor killings are often reported by relatives as suicides,
with family members destroying any evidence to the contrary in the name of
immediate cremation, as in the case of a minor girl’s murder by her family in
Redlapalle village, Andhra Pradesh in October 2019. Or, they are treated as homicides
by the police, or as atrocities against scheduled castes and tribes. The underreporting
of honour killing, lack of evidence , reporting it as a completely different crime and
even in some case there is no reporting of honour killing because the victim mostly
have their communication cut down to any people who would report them as the
family is against them and so is the whole village and so no one will even report the
crime leave alone being witness for them.

2). THE KHAP PANCHAYATS

Well earlier we discussed about honour killing, now we need to know about the khap
panchayat i.e. the illegal institution established for executing them.Khap panchayats
are unit of 84 village ordering on social issues while some issues are genuine like
alcohol abuse, road ,lighting , small and minor disputes. The problem is in their setup
in Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh no women could sit in a khap panchayat and
while the panchayat decides on each and every issue of women. This deep patriarchal
nature of these panchayats have led them to what today they are notoriously famous
for I.e. violence towards the couples who have married outside their community.

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 The supreme court has to intervene on a plea by an NGO Shakti vahini in 2018 , that
any assembly which is intended to scuttle a marriage of two consenting adults is
illegal.The three judge bench headed by Deepak Mishra CJ said that it is the duty of
state to ensure that these khap panchayats are not sitting with the intention of
abolishing the marriage between any two consenting adults and the state may use
section 144 of crpc.

The biggest concern is that no one in village would come against these khap
panchayats and would speak against them in village or in legal proceedings while any
violence against the victim couple was being commited in the presence of these
panchayats.

3.)DISOWNMENT FROM THE FAMILY

The couples, who against all odds do marry each other, are disowned for this
transgression by their families. They are not allowed to visit or receive any help in
setting up their new homes. The families cut ties and some even refuse to speak to
them. The children born from this marriage are not allowed of succession of their
property under the personal laws of their parents, even the parents are removed
from the will of property by their parents/guardians.

Even if the family members are not completely disowning them the spouse is ill-
treated, abused, harassed by the family members and if he/she is of lower caste then
he/she is treated as an untouchable and let alone being treated as human .This again, is
problem of deeply rooted casteism in our society.

The couple is left to fend for itself. They get no support from their families and maybe
even friends. Remember a huge part of a couple starting a new life is the presents they
get in the form of wedding gifts! Refrigerator from one set of parents, T.V from
another, maybe a maternal uncle buys then kitchen appliances, another gets them an
air-con. But with no support whatsoever this newly-wed couple is left to their two
salaries (if both are working) to make ends meet! Parents do not pitch in with
children, setting up the home either with energy or moral support either.

4.)DISCRIMINATION FROM THE PEOPLE AND HARASSMENT

Here even if the family accepts the inter-caste marriage the discrimination from the
people in his/her matrimonial home towards him/her is very much possible especially
if he is of a lower caste.
Dalit women h have voiced their experiences of untouchability and caste
discrimination after being married to upper-caste men. Chandra Sri who married an
upper-caste man, describes her experiences of caste discrimination within her
matrimonial home. (Shyamala, 2003)(shyamala is a famous Dalit feminist writer).

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 Inter-caste marriage is not well accepted in Indian society, the couple has to face a lot
of societal pressure. While renting apartments, landlords create issues because of the
inter-caste marriage badge . The couple may have no friends or relatives who come
forward to extend any help.

This form of discrimination and harassment though we may not see it happening in
our everyday lives still exists and is no way near it’s end in or society.

STATISTICAL DATA ON INTERCASTE MARRIAGE

Before looking for reforms in the inter-caste marriage we need to know about the
mindset of people and the exact conditions prevailing in ground.
The US-based Princeton University conducted a research on 43, 201 married
Indian couples from all strata of societies .Here are some unknown and interesting
facts about inter-caste marriages in India, that were revealed during the research In
North-Indian states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Chhattisgarh-
there have been numerous cases of "honour killings" because of inter-caste
marriages. In Haryana (18.50%), Maharashtra (17%), Karnataka (16.41%),
Agartala(16%), Gujarat(15.49%), Nagaland (6.67%) and Bihar(6.14%) inter-caste
marriages take place.

Research showed that when it comes to getting married in another caste, then Muslim
women are ahead of Hindu women. Out of 14% Muslim women, 7.83% women get
married with men from below their castes while 6.23% of them get married with men
from upper castes.

Another survey called SARI (Social Attitudes Research for India) in 2016
investigated what people think about inter-caste and inter-religious marriage
What are the major findings?
• People from all backgrounds said that they would raise objections to people marrying
from other social groups.
• Nearly 50% of the non-Scheduled Caste respondents in Delhi and 70% in Uttar
Pradesh said that they would oppose a child or close relative marrying a Dalit.
• There was even greater opposition to inter-religious marriages.
• In Delhi, about 60% of Hindus said they would oppose a child or relative marrying a
Muslim; a similar fraction of Muslims would oppose a child or relative marrying a
Hindu.

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 • In Uttar Pradesh, the opposition was even greater: about 75% of Hindus opposed
marriages with Muslims, and only a slightly lower fraction of Muslims, about 70%,
opposed marriages with Hindus
• The survey asked respondents whether they thought there should be laws to stop
marriages between upper castes and lower castes. About 40% respondents in Delhi
and more than 60% in rural Uttar Pradesh said that such laws should exist.
• The survey found that only 5% marriages are inter-caste. Similar stats were found in
another study in 2016 by National Council of Applied Economic Research, a New
Delhi-based think-tank.

What can we conclude from these findings

What these stats tell us is that the caste barriers are far from broken and people while
looking for suitable partner their first preference is their caste and they are
reluctant/hesitant/afraid of these barriers. The fact that majority of people want that
marriage outside caste and religion be banned and an north east state where there is no
or little casteism is ahead in inter-caste marriages than all the north Indian states
where casteism is deeply rooted takes us back to the words spoken by the great Dr.
BR Ambedkar “Turn any direction you like, caste is the monster that crosses your
path. You cannot have political reform, you cannot have economic reform, unless you
kill the monster,” in his celebrated work of annihilation of caste. For Ambedkar, the
route to a modern and just structure of India was simple- the destruction of the caste
system and in my opinion this is the only long term solution.

IMMEDIATE MEASURES
The first and foremost thing to be done by the state is running an awareness campaign
for inter-caste marriages, The victims generally have a feeling that they have done
something wrong because they see a mass of people(s) angry on their marriage and
they don’t know their rights. The state should provide protection to the victims and
reform in law enforcement authorities especially in the rural areas where there have
been instances of policemen helping the accused people in honor killings.
While giving the incentives to newly wed inter-caste married couple(announced by
the centre where an inter-caste marriage involving a dalit girl would get 2.5 lakhs as
an incentive) would be solution to the immediate problem faced by the couple. There
should be a separate law for violence on inter-caste marriage i.e. honor killing and an
awareness campaign with an helpline and special protection cell for inter-caste
marriages (as adopted in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh respectively).

MAJOR RECENT CASES BEFORE THE COURT

The court stand on inter caste marriage has always been firm.
In Lata Singh Vs. State of U.P( AIR 2006 SC 2522)

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 The supreme court held that inter-caste marriages are not banned under the Hindu
Marriage Act or any other law. The maximum that relatives can do if they disagree
with the inter-caste marriage of their children is to cut off all bonds with them.
"But they cannot give threats or commit or instigate acts of violence and cannot
harass the person who undergoes such inter-caste or inter-religious marriage. This is a
free and democratic country," the court said.
The courts have relied on a principle given by Ambedkar that one of the methods to
break the caste barrier are inter-caste marriages.

The Allahabad high court in September 2019 asked the Uttar Pradesh government the
steps they have taken to protect the interest of inter-caste couples.

In the case of Sushmita v. State of Punjab,( CRM M No. 49692 of 2018 (O&M)),
the Punjab and Haryana HC said that it is the duty of state to ensure safety of run-
away couples from dangers to their life, limb and liberty as a constitutional mandate
under Article 21.

CONCLUSION

We have covered five aspects of inter-caste marriage in india viz. 1) Problems faced by the
victim 2) statistical findings 3) courts stand on inter-caste marriage 4) relevant sections of the
special marriage act,1954 and 5) historical origins of the stand of our society against inter-
caste marriage, we have also covered short term and long term approach towards this evil.
Today, in rapidly changing world we need to match up with it, we have to ensure a free and
democratic type of polity, here we means us as a citizens. It is evidently clear that the present
antipathy of our society towards inter-caste marriage has evolved from casteism and varna
system and to counter that we need reform in every aspects i.e. firstly we need religious
reform we need to completely forget manu and his preachings on women and caste, so do we
don’t have examples of caste harmony and positive views on inter caste marriage? Actually
we do, in response to arjuna argument that inter caste marriages are unpure Krishna says
“klaibyam ma sma gamaḥ partha naitat tvayyupapadyate

kṣhudram hṛidaya-daurbalyam tyaktvottiṣhṭha parantapa”( Chapter 1, Verse 41 and 40)

“O Parth, it does not befit you to yield to this unmanliness. Give up such petty weakness of
heart and arise, O vanquisher of enemies.”
Hence, in Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna has clearly supported inter caste marriages.

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Now after religious reform we need to reform our police system and criminal justice system
there should be speedy trials for violence against inter-caste married couples , as earlier said
honor killings should have separate legislation with stringent provisions and the massive
underreporting of it should be cured. The problem of khap panchayat is still prevailing in
western UP, Haryana and Rajasthan. The courts can not always play the role of protector of
victims right efficiently as it has other cases of national interest to decide on separate
legislation and all india level protection cell should be established. Whereas the long term
solution as earlier said is only one abolition of caste!

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

.Family law by DR. Paras diwan (Allahabad law agency)

.DR. AK Jain, family law 1 (ascent publication)
.Why India Needs a Separate Law for Honor KillingsBy Anugraha Sundaravelu
https://theswaddle.com/honor-killings-india-law/

. ‘Real remedy for breaking caste is inter-marriage’ ByDushyant (Mumbai mirror)

.https://indiankanoon.org
. “Annihilation of caste” by B.R. Ambedkar
.https://www.scconline.com
.How to be free of caste by suhas borkar https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/how-to-
be-free-of-caste-in-india/article8467518.ece

.https://www.barandbench.com/
.https://indianexpress.com/
.https://rgyan.com/blogs/what-lord-krishna-has-to-say-about-inter-caste-marriages/

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