Punjab Assembly unanimously passes landmark bill to regulate Sikh marriages

Punjab Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed the Punjab Sikhs Anand Karaj Marriages Act 2017, a bill that will provide legal status to Sikh marriages in the province.

The bill was tabled by provincial minister Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora in 2017 and was signed by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif last week. The passing of the bill has effectively repealed the Anand Marriage Act, 1909 that was passed under British rule.

The bill, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, will come into force immediately after it has been approved by the governor. Once the bill has been approved, every Sikh marriage that took place before the bill came into force would also gain legal status.

According to the bill, a marriage ceremony, or Anand Karaj — which is defined as "the lawful union of a Sikh male and Sikh female" — will be performed in accordance with the religious practices as permitted in the Sikh religious text Guru Granth Sahib. The ceremony would be performed by a male or female called a "Granthi" who would read out from Guru Granth Sahib.

A "marriage deed", a legal document authorising the matrimonial union, will then be issued by a registrar who will be appointed by the Punjab government.

If a marriage certificate is not issued after the ceremony has taken place, it must be "reported" to the registrar by the Granthi who "solemnised the marriage".

MPA Arora, who presented the bill in the assembly, claimed that "Pakistan [will be] the only country in the world that would register Sikh marriages" once the bill is passed.

Previously, the records of Sikh marriages were maintained in a Gurdwara.

What is the Punjab Sikhs Anand Karaj Marriages Act?

The bill not only allows the registration of Sikh marriages with the provincial government but also lays down legal guidelines for those eligible for marriage, rules for dissolution and child support or "maintenance" following a dissolution.

According to the bill, any marriage ceremony that takes place between a Sikh male and female would be recognised by the government as long as the bride and groom are:

• Of sound mind and not below the age of 18 years

• they enter into marriage contract with their free and full consent

• are not related to each other in any degree of consanguinity or affinity which, according to the customary law of Sikhs, renders the marriage between them unlawful.

In case a "party" seeks to dissolve the marriage, he/she must submit a written note to the chairman — head of a union council, union administration or municipal committee or any official that has been authorised by the government to "discharge the functions of the Chairman under the Act" — as well as their partner.

The chairman would then have to constitute an "arbitration council" within 30 days of receiving the note, in order to facilitate reconciliation between the couple. However, if "reconciliation is not effected within 90 days from the date of the notice", the chairman will have to declare the marriage as dissolved and issue a Certificate of the Dissolution of Marriage.

Following the dissolution, either party will have the right to file an application in court for an "order for maintenance payment[s] and/or a lump sum payment for themselves or for a dependent child of the marriage".

• Minority MPA from opposition benches also assures support

LAHORE: The Sikh community of Punjab may receive good news as a bill to regularise the marriages of couples hailing from the community is likely to be passed by the Punjab Assembly during the ongoing 34th session today, Pakistan Today has learnt.

‘The Punjab Anand Karaj Bill’ was introduced in the house on October 24, 2017, during the 32nd session of the assembly by the only Sikh MPA from Punjab Ramesh Singh Arora and the bill will appear on the agenda item scheduled for today. The said bill after becoming an act would help Sikh couples to register their marriages and dissolutions at the Union Council (UC) level.

Speaking to Pakistan Today, Arora said that it would be a historic moment for the people of Punjab when the bill would be passed in the house as the country would get global recognition because it would be the first of its kind legislation in the whole world.

“Although it is a Private Member Bill, I have the support of my party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and I am quite sure that no one from the opposition benches would oppose it keeping in view the importance of the bill,” Arora said while expressing confidence that the bill would be passed unanimously.

It is worth mentioning here that Arora was seen visiting the opposition benches in order to seek the support from the opposition parties the day when he introduced the bill some four months ago and therefore his bill got a smooth sailing in the house.

He further added that he had invited the people from civil society and the representatives of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee to get their input on the much important bill for the Sikh community during the meetings of the Standing Committee on Human Rights and Minorities Affairs of the Punjab Assembly that is headed by Arora himself.

“The Sikh community living in London, Canada and the United States while acknowledging my efforts is continuously in contact with me since I introduced the bill that after becoming an act would also help them as they would easily get the registration certificates of their marriages from Pakistan and the document would be very beneficial for them,” said Arora, who after the elections of 2013, became the first Sikh MPA of Punjab since 1947.

“Earlier, our marriages were registered under an act that was introduced by the British in 1909, but it got redundant after the partition of 1947,” said Arora.

According to Arora, he has talked to the federal law secretary as well as his party desired that the bill should also be passed by the National Assembly to spread its spectrum in the whole country that has a population of some 25,000 people of Sikh community.

“The marriages of our community in India are registered under the Hindu Marriage Act despite the fact that India claims to be the largest secular state. This legislation of the Punjab Assembly would set a great precedent worldwide,” he added.

Shunila Ruth, a minority MPA of the opposition benches hailing from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf told Pakistan Today that her party would not oppose the bill as she herself was a member of the committee who made deliberations on the bill.

“Such bills should be introduced in the National Assembly instead of being introduced in the provincial assembly and I also gave this suggestion during the meeting of the Standing Committee on Human Rights and Minority Affairs,” she said while adding that the bill would be passed unanimously keeping in view its importance for the Sikh community.

However, she was quite worried regarding the quorum of the house as the treasury miserably failed to meet the quorum during the past two weeks. “The bill might be marred with the perennial quorum problem of the government,” said Ruth.

Punjab Assembly unanimously passes landmark bill to regulate Sikh marriages

Sikh marriages to get legal status as PA likely to pass historic bill today

Punjab Assembly unanimously passes landmark bill to
regulate Sikh marriages

Sikh marriages to get legal status as PA
likely to pass historic bill today