NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: Acting on a petition, Supreme Court has issued notice to the Union government seeking its reply on the issue of separate and distinct identity for Sikhs concerning succession, adoption, divorce and maintenance.
Petitioners Birendra Kaur and Rohit Garg, referring to the Anand Marriage (Amendment) Act 2012, has sorted out the registration of marriages of not only Sikhs but Buddhists and Jains also as earlier their marriages were registered under the Hindu Marriage Act 1955.
The petitioners have stated that the amendment has solved only the problem of marriage registration, the Sikhs and others still have to resort to the Hindu Acts namely Hindu Succession Act, 1956, Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 and Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 when it came to matters related to succession, adoption, divorce and maintenance respectively.
Chief Justice Altamas Kabir has sought a reply of Law Ministry, Minority Affairs Ministry and Attorney General GE Vahanvati on the issue if Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains can be included in the laws which are meant exclusively for the Hindus.
The petitioners questioned that if one were to go by titles then why the Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains are considered under the laws meant only for Hindus and when all the four religions are equal and independent of each other, is it justified to mention only one particular religion in the laws’ title.
Saying it was equivalent to religious discrimination, the petitioners alleged, “Making a law applicable to all religions is one thing. Calling all religions by the name of a single religion for the purpose of law is quite another.” They contended that the word “Hindu” in the laws should be dropped and instead “national” or “Indian” should be used.
The petition said, “This is true of married couples of all the four religions. Thus the word ‘Hindu’ is patently discriminatory. For example, if one of the Hindu partners converts to the Parsi religion, divorce is possible. If the partner converts to Buddhism, divorce is not possible.”
It was against the Constitution as it had accorded equal and independent status to all the four religions, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism.
The petition further says, “Identity is an innate and powerful emotional feeling and is part of the right to life. That the Sikh identity be preserved as a separate and distinct identity while drafting statutes causes no difficulty for the State at all and it requires only a little sensitivity while drafting statutes to maintain this identity within the statute itself.”
The petitioners had initially approached Punjab and Haryana High Court but the court had dismissed their plea following which they approached the Apex Court.