Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: THE Madhya Pradesh High Court recently set aside an Indore family court’s February 8, 2025 order which denied relief to Jain couples seeking divorce by mutual consent under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955. It clarified that even though Jain community is recognized as a minority community vide a Gentral government notification, it would be governed by the provisions of Hindu Marriage Act after noting that the marriage rituals are similar.
The family court had held that “followers of Jainism don’t have any right to get relief under the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, as they have rejected the basic Vedic beliefs of Hinduism and have established themselves as minorities after separating from Hindu religion since 2014.”
Justices Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Sanjeev S Kalgaonkar of the Indore Bench of the High Court said, “The family court judge has committed grave illegality and manifested impropriety in concluding that the provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 are not applicable to the members of Jain community. The impugned order is set aside and the appeal of the parties allowed. The First Additional Principal Judge Family Court, Indore, is directed to proceed with the petition in accordance with law.”
It further said, “the Central Government in exercise of powers conferred by Clause (c) of Section 2 of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, notified the Jain community as a minority community in addition to five communities already notified as minority communities viz. Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) for the purpose of the said Act. Though this notification recognises Jain community as a minority community, it does not amend, invalidate or supersede express provision of any existing laws. No corresponding amendments have been made to exclude the members of the Jain community from application of an existing law,” it said.
In the 14-page order, the Bench observed, “The provisions of Hindu Marriage Act are applicable to all the persons, who are Buddhist, Jain or Sikh by religion. The Sub-section (3) of Section 2 fortifies the applicability of Hindu Marriage Act to the members of Jain community. These express provisions of the law were unfortunately not considered in the correct perspective by the learned Additional Principal Judge.”
