Act Info:
1[(1)] No marriage shall be valid if-
(a) the contracting parties are related to each other in any of the degrees of consanguinity or affinity set forth in Schedule I; or
(b) such marriage is not solemnized according to the Parsi form of ceremony called " Ashirvad " by a priest in the presence of two Parsi witnesses other than such priest; or
2[(c) in the case of any Parsi (whether such Parsi has changed his or her religion or domicile or not) who, if a male, has not completed twenty-one years of age, fund if a female, has not completed eighteen years of age.]
3[(2) Notwithstanding that a marriage is invalid under any of the provisions of sub-section (1), any child of such marriage who would have been legitimate if the marriage had been valid, shall be legitimate.]
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1. Section 3 renumbered as sub-seciton (1) thereof by the Parsi Marriage and Divorce (Amendment) Act, 1988, w.e.f. 15-04-1988.
2. Substituted for "in the case of any Parsi (whether such Parsi has changed has or her religion or domicile or not) who has not completed the age of twenty-one years, the consent of his or her father or guardian has not been previously given to such marriage." By the Parsi Marriage and Divorce (Amendment) Act, 1988, w.e.f. 15-04-1988.
3. Inserted by the Marriage and Divorce (Amendment) Act, 1988, w.e.f. 15-04-1988.
Section 4 - Remarriage when unlawful
(1) No Parsi (whether such Parsi has changed his or her religion or domicile or not) shall contract any marriage under this Act or any other law in the lifetime of his or her wife or husband, whether aParsi or not, except after his or her lawful divorce from such wife or husband or after his or her marriage with such wife or husband has lawfully been declared null and void or dissolved, and, if the marriage was contracted with such wife or husband under the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act 1865{ Rep.by this Act.}, or under this Act, except after a divorce, declaration or dissolution as aforesaid under either of the said Acts.
(2) Every marriage contracted contrary to the provisions of subsection (1) shall be void.
Section 5 - Punishment of bigamy
Every Parsi who during the lifetime of his or her wife or husband, whether a Parsi or not, contracts a marriage without having been lawfully divorced from such wife or husband, or without his or her marriage with such wife or husband having legally been declared null and void or dissolved, shall be subject to the penalties provided in sections 494 and 495 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) for the offence of marrying again during the lifetime of a husband or wife.
Section 6 - Certificate and registry of marriage
Every marriage contracted under this Act shall, immediately on the solemnization thereof, be certified by the officiating priest in the form contained in Schedule II. The certificate shall be signed by the said priest, the contracting parties,1[***], and two witnesses present at the marriage; and the said priest shall thereupon send such certificate together with a fee of two rupees to be paid by the husband to the Registrar of the place at which such marriage is solemnized. The Registrar on receipt of the certificate and fee shall enter the certificate in a register to be kept by him for that purpose and shall be entitled to retain the fee.
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1. The words "or their fathers or guardians when they shall not have completed the age of twenty-one years" omitted by the Parsi Marriage and Divorce (Amendment) Act, 1988, w.e.f. 15-04-1988.
Section 7 - Appointment of Registrar
For the purposes of this Act a Registrar shall be appointed.Within the local limits of the ordinary original civil jurisdiction of a High Court, the Registrar shall be appointed by the Chief Justice of such Court, and without such limits, by the State Government.Every Registrar so appointed may be removed by the Chief Justice or State Government appointing him.
Section 8 - Marriage register to be open for public inspection
The register of marriages mentioned in section 6 shall, at all reasonable times, be open for inspection, and certified extracts there from shall, on application, be given by the Registrar on payment to him by the applicant of two rupees for each such extract. Every such register shall be evidence of the truth of the statements therein contained.
Section 9 - Copy of certificate to sent to Registrar General of births Deaths and Marriages
Every Registrar, except the Registrar appointed by the Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay, shall, at such intervals as the State Government by which he was appointed from time to time directs, send to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages for the territories administered by such State Government a true copy certified by him in such form as such State Government from time to time prescribes, of all certificates entered by him in the said register of marriages since the last of such intervals.
Section 10 - Registration of divorces
When a Court passes a decree for divorce, nullity or dissolution, the Court shall send a copy of the decree for registration to the Registrar of Marriages within its jurisdiction appointed under section 7; the Registrar shall enter the same in a register to be kept by him for the purpose, and the provisions of Part II applicable to the Registrars and registers of marriages shall be applicable, so far as may be, to the Registrars and registers of divorces and decrees of nullity and dissolution.
Section 11 - Penalty for solemnizing marriage contrary to section 4
Any priest [knowingly and wilfully solemnizing any marriage contrary to and in violation of section 4 shall, on conviction thereof, be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to two hundred rupees, or with both.
Section 12 - Penalty for priests neglect of requirements of section 6
Any priest neglecting to comply with any of the requisitions affecting him contained in section 6 shall, on conviction thereof, be punished for every such offence with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees' or with both.
Section 13 - Penalty for omitting to subscribe and attest certificate
Every other person required by section 6 to subscribe or attest the such certificate who shall wilfully omit or neglect so to do.shall, on conviction thereof, be punished for every such offence with a finenot exceeding one hundred rupees.
Section 14 - Penalty for making, etc., false certificate
Every person making or signing or attesting any such certificate containing a statement which is false, and which he either knows or believes to be false, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees, or with both; and if the act amounts to forgery as defined in the Indian Penal Code, (45 of 1860) then such person shall also be liable, on conviction thereof, to the penalties provided in section 465 of the said Code.
Section 15 - Penalty for failing to register certificate
Any Registrar failing to enter the said certificate pursuant to section 6 shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.
Section 16 - Penalty for secreting, destroying or altering register
Any person secreting, destroying, or dishonestly or fraudulently altering the said register in any part thereof, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description as defined in the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) for a term which may extend to two years, or if he be a Register, for a term which may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to five hundred rupees.
Section 17 - Formal irregularity or altering register
No marriage contracted under this Act shall be deemed to be invalid solely by reason of the fact that it was not certified under section 6, or that the certificate was not sent to the Registrar, or that the certificate was defective, irregular or incorrect.