The Tribune, Saturday, April 3, 2010, Delhi, India
Court verdict reinforces rule of law
Aditi Tandon’s article, “Death for ‘honour’: Court teaches khap panchayats a lesson” (April 1) is thought-provoking. The supremacy and inviolability of the rule of law is enshrined in the Constitution. It is implicit in the right to life as envisaged in the Article 21 of the Constitution to choose marriage partners according to one’s personal choice as long as it does not militate against the recognised personal law.
The Hindu Marriage Act clearly enumerates the persons who are out of bounds in the form of ‘sapinda relationship’ and 'degree of prohibited relationship' for the purposes of marriage. At the same time it does not prohibit the same gotra marriage in toto.
Marriage with a person placed beyond the third generation in the line of ascent through the mother, and the fifth generation in the line of ascent through the father is valid and legal.
The revulsion and indignation against such marriages has been orchestrated by certain disgruntled and megalomaniac fringe elements in society. Historic judgment delivered by the court in Karnal pronouncing death sentence to five persons in a case of honour killing will go a long way in preventing the recurrence of gory incidents and thereby reinforce the rule of law.
RAJENDER GOYAL, Bahadurgarh
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