Mahima
The Punjab and Haryana High Court permitted registration of marriage through video conferencing.
The petitioners, Ami Ranjan and Misha Verma appealed against the judgment of a single bench of the High Court which refused registration of marriage through video conferencing.
In this case, the husband wants to visit his wife who is a medical professional and is on Covid-19 emergency duty in the United States. However, for obtaining a visa he needs to attach the marriage certificate along with the application for a visa, and lack of a marriage certificate is becoming a hurdle in the procedure.
The petitioners had filed a writ petition seeking quashing of the order issued by the Deputy Collector-cum-Marriage Officer, Gurugram.
The Court overruled the order of single-bench which held that there exists no such provision for the registration of marriage in the physical absence of the parties before the marriage officer under the Special Marriage Act, 1954.
The Court observed that the husband didn’t request a complete exemption from appearance in front of the registrar but merely requested the appearance of the wife via video conferencing for getting their marriage registered.
The court observed,
“ In this case, the presence of Misha Verma [wife] can be secured through video-conferencing, and the presence of husband Ami Ranjan and three witnesses can be marked by their appearance in the office of Registrar of Marriages. Then, the certificate of marriage can be issued on doing verification of facts as contemplated under Sections 15 and 16 of the Special Marriage Act. Once the marriage certificate is issued, it can be made part of the public record under Section 47 of the Act by entering it into the marriage certificate book. There shall be no violation of Section 47 of the Act”.
Earlier this year, Justice PB Suresh Kumar of Kerala High Court also permitted registration of marriage through video conferencing in the case of Sreelakshmi and Sanoop
Justice Manmohan of Delhi High Court too favored issuance of marriage certificates via video conferencing to a newly-wed Canadian couple stating that physical presence was required at a time when “technology was nascent”.