Marriage registration mandatory for all religions and regions:SC

New Delhi, Oct 25 (UNI) The Supreme Court today clarified once again that its judgement dated July 23, 2006 making registration of marriage compulsory applied to all citizens of the country irrespective of religion and region, including minorities.

A bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and P Sadhasivam granted further time of three months to all the states and Union Territories (UT) to implement its directions dated July 23, 2006.

According to the Supreme Court, compulsory registration of marriage would help in eroding many social evils like child marriage etc.

The marriages among Parsis and Christians were compulsorily registered according to their customs.

The Supreme Court also said ''by order dated July 23, 2007 with reference to earlier order dated December 14, 2006, it was directed that the marriages are to be made compulsorily registerable in respect of persons who are Indian citizens even if they belong to various religions. Direction was given to file details of compliance. States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu and Tripura have complied with the directions.'' The apex court also directed all remaining states and Union Territories to file their compliance report before the next date of hearing and adjourned the matter by four months.

UNI