Christians oppose Govt move to present marriage bill

Delhi archbishop Alan de Lastic said the Draft Bill withdraws important freedoms historically enjoyed by Christians. Hitherto marriages could solemnised in the church when one party was a Christian and both wanted to wed in church. This right has been taken away. The new Bill restricts church marriages only when both partners are Christians and forces mixed couples to go for a marriage under the special marriage act.

Also under the new bill severe restrictions have been placed on priests performing marriages in church with penalties for violations of regulations going up to ten years in prison and fines.

Describing the Bill as part of the hostile activity against the church the archbishop apprehended that the punitive provisions could be misused. He demanded that personal laws of the minorities should not be interfered with and if needed, any amendments be done in consultation with and on the appeal of the minorities only.

The archbishop said they had waited for the Government response to the Bill for three years but the Government had now "rushed into it" and given them only about ten days to consider. They suspected some design behind the Government’s hurried move to present the Bill before Parliament.

He said they had asked for an appointment with Jethmalani to explain to him their point of view.

The Law Minister had convened a meeting of church leaders and several other organisations on April 28 to discuss the Christian Marriage Bill, 1994, prepared by the JWP and the ecumenical committee for changes in Christian marriage law. He reportedly told those attending the meeting that he would introduce the Christian Marriages Bill 2000 in the current session of Parliament.

The draft Christian Marriage Bill, 2000, supports the proposal made by the JWP Bill 1994. It strikes down Section 10 of the Divorce Act 1969, removes the clause on minor marriages in Christian Marriage Act 1972, provides for right to matrimonial home in the case of divorce and also provides for divorce by mutual consent.

"We felt very happy when the Law Minister gave indication that the Government was willing to introduce the legislation we sought….upon examining the draft bill we found several major shortcomings in the draft bill which we pointed out during the meeting. We strongly urged the government that the draft bill could not be introduced in Parliament in its present form."

Archbishop de Lastic, who is also president of the CBCI, said the Bill seeks to describe "marriage as a contract while as marriage is something sacred. The bill also tends to liberate divorce which is clearly discriminatory".

Rev Oswald Gracias, general secretary of the CBCI, who was also at the press conference, said their criticism of the Bill in the present form should not be misunderstood as the Christians blocking an important piece of legislation. "In fact we only want certain amendments in the Bill in its present form before it goes to Members of Parliament," he added.

The two leaders said the church in India had been demanding for a long time a new legislation to replace the existing four acts on marriage, divorce, adoption and succession. Some of these laws date back to the 19th century. After intensive discussions within the Christian community, drafts of four bills were submitted to the Government about 12 years ago. Since then successive governments were requested to expedite the bills.