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Tanya Jain (CS)     06 May 2017

Second cousin marraiges in india

Can someone have a legal and registered marraige with thier second cousin?

Relationship - Father's Father's brothers son's son

As per special Marraige Act the above relationship is not covered in Prohibited relations as per my understanding of the law.

Already familiar with the Act, queries were as below:

So wil this be considered as a legal and registered marraige?

Can such marraiges be chanllenged in Court of Law by other relatives (post the 30 day waiting period) - can the legality of the marraige be then questioned? do such marraiges/ people getting married get any protection under law?

Request only relevant and contextual answers - thank you!



Learning

 5 Replies

Dr. MPS RAMANI Ph.D.[Tech.] (Scientist/Engineer)     06 May 2017

Under Hindu Marriage Act marriage between sapindas is prohibited. Cousins separated up to 5 generations on the father's side and 3 generations on the mother's side are considered sapindas. The individual is considered as generation one for this purpose. In the case mentioned by you the marriage is prohibited as they will be sapindas. Special Marriages Act is mainly intended for marriages between those who may not be blood-relations. But if a couple eligible for Hindu Marriage opts for Special Marriage I see no reason why the same rules as for Hindu Marriage should not apply.

Tanya Jain (CS)     06 May 2017

Thank you for your valuable feedback, agreed this relationship is not acceptable under Hindu Law and Special Marraige Act

is mainly intended for marriages between those who may not be blood-relations, but the Act also specifically mentions the relations to which restrictions applies. And per my understanding, this marraige stands valid under same.
 
My concern was more from whether the legality can be challenged later on by other relatives, does the law provides protection, do we have precedence of any citation/earlier rulings basis which this can be fought over

Dr. MPS RAMANI Ph.D.[Tech.] (Scientist/Engineer)     06 May 2017

When you get married in a manner that you think that yours was a valid marriage why should anyone challenge your marriage?  So long as no one challenges you will continue as husband and wife. Someone may challenge your marriage in a court of law if one has to gain something by that the other person is not your spouse or by that your children are not your legitimate children. It could be some other reason. I was married when I joined service and I gave the name of my wife as my wife. My employer did not question it. My wife all the time got all the benefits an employee's wife was entitled to. Suppose another woman had come and claimed the benefits which my wife was entitled to, then she, my existing wife or I will have to go about substantiating the claim of validity of the marriage. If you were a US visa holder and you wanted to apply for visa for your wife, the US consulate would be satisfied with your marriage certificate. If in your country a brother can marry his sister under law the US authorities would not question you. But if someone challenges with a claim, the US authorities may look into it. If you marry your paternal second cousin nothing will happen unless someone challenges. If someone should challenge there must be a reason to challenge. Then the court would decide.

Tanya Jain (CS)     07 May 2017

As I said earlier the relatives who are not in agreement to this relationship, can they challenge this in court of law and make the relationship void on any grounds that I am missing here. Has there been any earlier cases like these and was the ruling in favour of the couple or the family

Dr. MPS RAMANI Ph.D.[Tech.] (Scientist/Engineer)     08 May 2017

There are any number of cases where validity of marriages on account of prohibited degrees of relationships have been questioned. Unless specifics are given it is difficult to answer such questions. Say what exactly is your problem.

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