My wife is a Christian Canadian residing in Ontario, Canada and I am an Hindu Indian residing in Odisha, India having known each other for last 4 years. We finally got married last year in December in a private ceremony organized by my family in my hometown, here I would like to add that we both are well above the legal marriageable age. After consulting various people and going through various forums, we figured out that our marriage can be registered in the sub-registrar office under Special Marriage Act of 1954. And that for this we would need to file a notice of intended marriage in specified format with the registrar's office 30 days prior to the wedding and after expiration of 30 days our wedding will be solemnized.
As per the procedure we got "Certificate in lieu of non impediment of marriages abroad" for my wife from the Canadian Consulate. Finally when I approached the office of the marriage registrar with all neccessary documents, I was informed by the clerk that the notification procedure can't be applicable for us since my wife's address is in Canada and my address is in Odisha and that they do not send any notices to abroad. When I insisted that it was legitimate & lawful and that many people have got married this way, the clerk in a very rude manner replied that "it might happen in other cities, but it doesnt happen here!". He also asked me as to how the objection was to be raised if they had to send form to abroad which would take about 20 to 30 days to reach the home address of my wife. When I told that for this purpose we have got the certificate in lieu of non impediment of marriages abroad, the clerk asked me to submit the certificate with them and that they would take their time and decide whether it'll be possible for them to carry out the procedure or not. Finally after a lot of persuance & pleading the clerk told me that I could get married to my wife in a private ceremony and later on, apply for the registration Under Section - 15 of The Special marriage Act - 43 of 1954 for the purpose he even handed me Form - V (See Rule 7(I)) and asked me to apply after the wedding.
After the wedding my wife had to go back to canada for some unavoidable circumstances, and we couldnt get the wedding registered. My wife is planning to return back next month and we intend to have our wedding registered, so I would like to seek some legal help and opinion in this matter.
