Gujarat govt mulls making parental consent mandatory for love marriages

Ahmedabad: Gujarat chief minister Bupendra Patel recently announced that his government will study the possibility of making parental consent mandatory for those marriages solemnized against the wishes of the family members.

He also said that his government will study the increase in cases of elopement for marriage and try and bring a positive solution within the ambit of the Indian Constitution.

The statement by Patel made at an event organized by the Sardar Patel Group, an outfit representing the Patidar community, in Mehsana, comes in the wake of several representations made to the government about the increasing cases of girls from the Hindu community eloping with boys from different community or faith. Various communities, in their representation to the state government, have demanded legislation where parental consent becomes mandatory for marriages after elopement and without the family’s permission.

During the function of Patidar community (to which CM belongs) in Mehsana on Sunday night, Gujarat CM said that he was told by his fellow minister Rushikesh Patel about the increase in marriages after elopement in the state.

“Rushikeshbhai (Patel) told me on the way here that we need to look into the matter of number of girls eloping to get married in the state. He said that we need to study if we can make parental consent for such marriages must. If the constitution allows, we will study it and do something (like legislation) and get good results (for the society),” Patel told the audience who had gathered for a community get-together.

Talking about it, former Gujarat deputy CM and a prominent Patidar community leader Nitin Patel said that Hindu girls across the country are facing the same issue.

“Boys (of different faith) compelling the Hindu girls to elope without the consent of their parents has become a daunting issue. To stop this rising trend, various communities in Gujarat have made representations to the state government. Communities have demanded that if a girl has a court marriage or marries without the consent of the family members then that marriage may not be considered legal,” said Patel.

“The communities have been demanding legislation in this direction. Now, the Gujarat CM himself has made the announcement that such representation would be studied, and the government will act on these lines to maintain harmony (among communities),” he added.

The Gujarat government in 2021 amended the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act penalizes forcible or fraudulent religious conversion by marriage. Under the amended Act, a provision was added where a person found guilty of forcible or fraudulent religious conversion faces imprisonment up to 10 years' imprisonment if found guilty.

However, the Gujarat high court on August 19, 2011 stayed sections 3, 4, 4A to 4C, 5, 6 and 6A of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act and made it clear that these sections shall not operate if interfaith marriage is solemnized without force, allurement or fraudulent means and such marriages cannot be termed as marriages for the purpose of unlawful conversion.

The state government had requested the removal of section 5 of the Act from the stay order as it mandates a person to seek prior approval from the district magistrate for performing religious conversion.

The state government had argued that if stayed the entire anti-conversion law would practically be stayed. It asserted that the state government has never intended to prohibit interfaith marriage.

But the HC declined to entertain state government’s request. The Gujarat government has appealed against the stay order in the Supreme Court, which is still pending.

Several human rights activists have raised the issue of this anti-conversion Act being used specifically against inter-faith marriages. Cases have been filed in different districts of Gujarat where boy who marries a girl from different faith is accused of forcible religious conversion and put behind bars invoking the provision of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act.