HYDERABAD: The Sindh Human Rights Commission (SHRC) organised a training programme on Sindh Hindu Marriage Act, 2018, in Nawabshah on Friday to sensitise local government officials, religious leaders and members of civil society to the law.

Aslam Shaikh, SHRC’s judicial member, said that under the Act, any Hindu male and female above 18 years of age could request for the registration of the marriage.

He said the law also covered divorce and remarriage rights and financial security of divorced women as well as children of divorcees.

SHRC’s member minority M. Parkash said that under the law every marriage would be registered with union council or ward or any other municipal authority where the marriage ceremony had taken place within 45 days of the solemnisation of marital union.

The participants were informed that there would be four copies of the certificate of marriage as provided in Schedule-A of the law, all of which would be provided to the officer concerned after being filled out.

The officer after satisfying himself that all conditions of the marriage set out in Section-4 had been met, would endorse the marriage certificate and keep one copy of it for record. He would return the remaining copies to the parties concerned.

The officer would maintain a marriage register for the purpose as per rules and directions issued by government. All entries in the register would bear official stamp of the officer concerned and would be signed by the person solemnising the marriage. The government, through a notification published in official gazette, would prescribe a fee for registering marriages and issuing certified copies of certificates.

SHRC member Krishan Sharma shed light on the history, background, struggle and enactment of the law while Parkash and Sharma discussed the role of local government department in the implementation of the act.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2022