HC bars Arya Samaj temple from solemnising marriages

Allahabad : The Allahabad High Court has restrained an Arya Samaj temple here from solemnising marriages or issuing marriage certificates until further orders after taking a serious view of alleged failure of the temple to verify the legal age of couples.

A Lucknow bench of Justices Rajnish Kumar and Babita Rani passed the order while hearing a writ petition filed by Neha and Anand Kumar seeking protection from alleged police harassment.

The court observed that if marriages of persons below the legally prescribed age are solemnised, all those involved in the process would be liable under the law.

It also remarked that while the principles of Arya Samaj are founded on truth and social welfare, some institutions were not adhering to those basic values.

During the hearing, the state counsel submitted that petitioner Anand Kumar was around 19 years old according to his Aadhaar card, whereas the minimum legal age for marriage for a man is 21 years.

On the court's direction, the secretary of the Arya Samaj temple, Sankalp Mishra, appeared before the bench and produced the marriage register and related records.

The bench questioned how Anand Kumar's age was recorded as 22 years in the marriage certificate when his Aadhaar card showed his date of birth as January 1, 2007, and no other documentary proof of age was available.