Hindu Marriages Act and cousins marrying each other
Posted By Illi Billi (ilibili@hotmail.com)
Sat, 19 Jul 1997 06:23:57 PDT
Hi,
Is there any bar on marrying cousins according to the Hindu Marriages
Act in India? More accurately, a friend of mine and his cousin want to
marry: she is his mother's brother's daughter and they are both in love,
and apparently very deeply so. There is some dispute here: while some of
his friends believe that since they are both Hindu [Bengali Brahmins, if
needed for clarification], it is not legally possible, as per the Hindu
Marriage Act, there are some who wonder whether this is true: their
argument runs that India is after all a free country and Hinduism is
viewed as a liberal philosophy. (It is true that there are some bars on
same-"gotra" marriages, but here the "gotra" is different, also, and it
is not clear that that bar is legal.)
Btw, for purposes of protection to the other person in any eventuality,
it seems to me that they are adamant that they will not marry if it is
an illegal option.
Anyone know more about the law in such a situation? Any references and
follow-ups would be greatly appreciated.
It is clear that this may be something that makes a large number of
people uneasy because it is somewhat unconventional: our (and their)
apologies therefore!
Please, no junk mail in response!
Cheers!!
Illi Billi
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