Community welcomes approval of Sikh Marriage Act

LAHORE: Punjab’s enactment of “The Anand Karaj Act 2017”, the law to give legal cover to Sikh marriages, has tipped to resolve the intricacies of legal hitches the Sikh fraternity had to confront in spousal matters on legal turf.

The epoch-making legislation, when comes into effect, will serve a watershed in resolving the family matters of Sikh community in registration of marriages, divorce, inheritance, polygamy and others.

Taking lead from India and Britain having biggest Sikh communities in the world respectively, Pakistan has become the first country to introduce legislation for the registration of Sikh marriages, partially though, as the federal government and three provincial governments of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have yet to pass the law through their respective assemblies. The approval of “The Anand Karaj Act 2017” by the Punjab Assembly with the majority of vote was a rare display of opposition-treasury unity.

Ramesh Arora, MPA, said “Anand Karaj means lawful union of a Sikh male and a female in accordance with the practices of the Sikh religion, as permitted in the Guru Granth sahib. The Act has set the minimum age for Sikh marriages for both males and females at 18. Every marriage between Sikhs shall be registered under the Act. For registration of marriages under the Act, the government, in the prescribed manner, will grant licences to one or more persons professing Sikh religion to be called Anand Karaj Registrar, authorising them to grant Anand Karaj Certificate.”

He added, “The bridegroom and the bride or a Granthi will fill the Anand Karaj form and present it, within 30 days of the marriage, to the Anand Karaj Registrar for registration and a copy thereof will be sent to the chairman. A marriage, which is not solemnised by the Anand Karaj Registrar, shall, for the purpose of registration under the Act, be reported within 30 days of solemnisation to the chairman by the Granthi or the person who contracted the marriage. The violators, according to the Act, will be punished and fined up to Rs10,000. The Act is not just about marriage but also details out procedures vis-à-vis dissolution of marriage, maintenance and saving of marriages contracted according to other ceremonies.”

Ramesh Singh, while talking to The News, said, it is an honour for the PML-N that Pakistan has become the first country in the world to introduce legislation for the registration of Sikh marriages. We will be doing further legislation regarding second marriage and divorce issue.

Ranjeet Singh, Head Granthi Gurdwara Dera Sahib Sri Guru Arjan Dev, said, “Pakistan has won the hearts of all the Sikh community worldwide. Pakistan has set an example for the rest of the world. It has shown that minorities should be treated with this much respect and dignity. Our community will sacrifice the last breaths to safeguard this nation. We do not have enough words to show our love and gratitude to the government. We will always remember this declaration and history will mark this Act in golden words. Before this Act, a simple letter was used to issue at the time of Sikh marriage and it did not have any worth in the legal procedures. But now our marriages will be acknowledged legally. The issue of inheritance and other legal matters will be resolved according to the law.”

Provincial Minister for Human Rights & Minorities Affairs Khalil Tahir Sandhu said this act is another landmark of the Punjab government.

The minister said that even in India, where the highest population of Sikhs resides, Sikh marriages are registered under the Hindu Marriage Act but Pakistan is the only country in the world where a separate Sikh marriage bill has been formally promulgated. He said that this bill is the result of Sikh-Punjabi brotherhood.