The handmaiden of capitalism.

Byline: Jawed Naqvi

JOSH Malihabadi had a word for the pervasive suffocation that Indians are swamped by of late. 'Ab boo-i-gul na baad-i-saba maangtay hain log/ Woh habs hai ke loo ki dua maangtay hain log' (The scent of flowers, the morning breeze, look distant if nice/ In this suffocating stillness a blast of scalding heat would suffice).

In this stillness, both political and cultural, came natural elation over the Allahabad High Court's ruling recently on civil marriages. The court deleted the waiting time and notice period of 30 days before a civil marriage could take place in Uttar Pradesh. The wait was a needless imposition, the court felt. And the requirement of a public notice impinged on the privacy of those who wanted to marry sans fanfare.

The pause clause is, however, not the issue it is made out to be. If anything, it's like the amber light before the green and seems to have been lifted from a not so disagreeable church practice. 'If anyone has any objection to the marriage they should speak up now or hold their peace forever,' says the priest to the gathering without mostly inviting any trouble.

The court's order, albeit handy in some ways, has been projected as protection from harassment of marrying couples by social vigilantes, particularly if they were crossing religious or caste barriers that continue to mock the nation's egalitarian promise.

The Special Marriage Act in India was meant to circumvent the crisis not to add to it.

A more worrying reality is the fact that vigilantes enjoy unprecedented powers under the current set-up governing the country. The courts appear helpless before the daunting reality of majoritarian assertions in India, the same way as they are often known to yield to mobs in Pakistan. What stops the mobs from coming for anyone before their marriage or after?

The essential problem with the Special Marriage Act of 1954 - a handy piece of legislation on its own - comes with couples who change religion or are made to convert in the bargain. This changing of beliefs in order to marry is a problematic practice for a secular country that India is. Conversion is not the issue here, which nobody should object to between consenting adults. A woman or a man who wants to become a Hindu or a Muslim or a Christian should marry according to the rites prescribed in the chosen religion while leaving the Special Marriage Act alone. Religious conversion in a marriage denotes an illiberal spirit. One loves or likes...

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