Arya Samaj Marriage Without Parents' Consent
Adults need nobody's permission to marry. The route with no notice period, the witness problem after the Delhi High Court's August 2024 directions, privacy, age proof, and what to do if threats begin.
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Arya Samaj Marriage Without Parents' Consent: the quick answer
Parental consent is not a legal requirement for an adult marriage in India. Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act lists five conditions - a living spouse, capacity to consent, ages of 21 and 18, prohibited degrees and sapinda relationship - and the approval of anybody's family is not among them. The Supreme Court said the same in Lata Singh v. State of U.P. (2006): a major is free to marry whom she wishes, and disapproving parents can at most cut social relations. What has changed recently is practical rather than legal. In August 2024 the Delhi High Court directed a mandir to ensure witnesses are genuine and to require a witness who is a relative from each side, and Delhi mandirs have tightened witness practice since - which is exactly the obstacle a couple with no supportive family runs into. That is a solvable problem, but it needs raising at the start rather than on the morning.
Arya Samaj Marriage Without Parents' Consent: key facts at a glance
| Is parental consent required? | No. Section 5 lists the conditions for a valid Hindu marriage and consent of parents is not among them |
|---|---|
| Supreme Court authority | Lata Singh (2006): a major is free to marry whom she wishes; parents can at most cut social relations |
| Minimum age | Groom 21, bride 18 (s.5(iii)) - and the same under Order 2(a) of the Delhi Order 2014 for registration |
| Why this route | The Hindu Marriage Act has NO notice period - nothing is displayed publicly before the marriage |
| The Special Marriage Act contrast | 30 days' residence, then a 30-day public notice open to objection by any person |
| The new witness issue | Delhi HC, 27 Aug 2024, directed a mandir to require a genuine witness who is a relative from each side, or a long-standing acquaintance |
| Will parents be informed? | No. Nobody is informed on your behalf and there is no verification visit to your family home |
| What families actually attack | Age. The matriculation or birth certificate is the document the whole matter turns on |
| Paid witnesses | A false attestation that travels with the certificate - refuse it |
| If threats begin | Call 112, put a written complaint on record with the SHO, and read our police protection page |
Arya Samaj Marriage Without Parents' Consent explained clearly
Adults need nobody's permission to marry. The route with no notice period, the witness problem after the Delhi High Court's August 2024 directions, privacy, age proof, and what to do if threats begin.
The legal position, in one paragraph
Nobody needs their parents' permission to marry in India once they are of age. This is not a liberal interpretation or a recent development; it is simply what the statute says and what the Supreme Court has repeatedly confirmed.
Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 sets out the conditions for a valid Hindu marriage: neither party has a living spouse; both are capable of giving valid consent and free of the mental conditions described; the bridegroom has completed 21 years and the bride 18; the parties are not within the degrees of prohibited relationship unless a custom permits; and they are not sapindas of each other unless a custom permits. Read the list again. Parental consent is not on it, and no provision anywhere adds it.
The Supreme Court in Lata Singh v. State of U.P. (2006) held that a major is free to marry whomever she wishes, and that if the parents disapprove the most they can do is cut off social relations - directing the administration and police throughout the country to ensure such couples are not harassed and that those who threaten them are prosecuted. In Shafin Jahan v. Asokan K.M. (2018), the Hadiya case, the Court held that the choice of a partner lies within the exclusive domain of each individual and that neither the state nor the law can dictate it, setting aside a High Court order that had annulled a marriage at a father's instance.
So the answer to "can we marry without our parents" is yes, without qualification, provided you are both of age. The rest of this page is about the practical questions that follow, because those are real even though the legal one is not.
Why Arya Samaj, and what it actually solves
There is a reason this route is so strongly associated with couples marrying against family wishes, and it is worth being precise about what it does and does not solve.
What it solves is time and exposure. A marriage under the Hindu Marriage Act has no notice period at all. Section 7 provides that a marriage may be solemnised in accordance with the customary rites and ceremonies of either party, and where those include saptapadi it is complete and binding when the seventh step is taken. A couple who arrive in the morning with complete documents can be lawfully married that afternoon, and nothing is displayed publicly beforehand.
Compare that with the Special Marriage Act, where Section 4 requires 30 days of residence in the district before notice can be given, Section 6 requires the notice to be published, and Section 7 allows any person to object during the 30 days that follow. That notice is displayed publicly at the Marriage Officer's office. For a couple whose central concern is that the family will find out and intervene, that 30-day window is the single largest practical risk in the whole process, and it is the reason so many couples in this position choose the Hindu Marriage Act route where they are eligible.
It also solves the caste question outright. Section 2 of the Arya Marriage Validation Act, 1937 provides that a marriage between two persons who are both Arya Samajis at the time of the marriage is not invalid by reason only of their belonging to different castes or sub-castes, or of either having belonged before the marriage to a different religion. Inter-caste couples need nothing extra.
What it does not solve is eligibility. The Hindu Marriage Act requires both parties to fall within Section 2 - Hindu, Buddhist, Jain or Sikh. If one of you is Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew, this route is closed unless there has been a genuine conversion, and a same-day conversion certificate arranged at a counter is not a solution but a larger problem. Our conversion page sets out why, with the case law. For an interfaith couple the lawful options are the Special Marriage Act with its notice, or a real conversion properly done.
The witness problem, and the 2024 Delhi order
This is the part of the process where couples without family support actually get stuck, and it is the newest development in this area.
In Mukesh Kumar Sen v. State (NCT of Delhi), 2024:DHC:6312-DB, decided on 27 August 2024 by a Division Bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Amit Sharma, the Delhi High Court directed a mandir to ensure that when witnesses are produced for the purposes of marriage they are genuine and bona fide witnesses, and to require at least one witness who is a relative from each side - or, where a relative is unavailable, a long-standing acquaintance. A copy of the order was sent to the Chief Secretary, Government of NCT of Delhi.
Be accurate about what that is. The directions were addressed to a particular mandir rather than laid down as a general rule binding every institution in Delhi. But the order went to the Chief Secretary, it was widely reported, and Delhi mandirs have tightened witness practice in response. In practical terms, a couple turning up in 2026 with two strangers as witnesses will meet more resistance than they would have in 2023.
You can see why the direction exists. It is aimed at the operations the courts have criticised - places issuing certificates with produced witnesses for marriages nobody attended, including marriages of minors and coerced marriages. The Madhya Pradesh High Court in Rahul v. State of M.P. (2022) described that activity as running marriage shops on commercial lines. The direction is a response to a real abuse.
The difficulty is that it lands hardest on exactly the couples the law is otherwise protecting - two adults whose families are opposed, who have nobody from either side willing to attend. That is not a reason to abandon the route. It is a reason to raise the question on day one rather than at the mandir gate.
What to do when no relative will come
This is the question, and it deserves practical answers rather than sympathy.
First, widen your definition of who might come. Couples in this position often assume the whole family is opposed when in fact one person is not - a cousin, an older sibling, an aunt, a brother-in-law. Someone who disagrees with the family's position but has not said so publicly is more common than people expect, and a single relative from either side changes the position materially.
Second, a long-standing acquaintance is contemplated where a relative is genuinely unavailable. That means someone who actually knows you and has known you for a while - a colleague of several years, a landlord, a family friend from your own side, a college friend from a decade ago. What matters is that they can say honestly how they know you and for how long. A person met that morning is not that, and both the mandir and, later, an SDM will notice.
Third, ask the specific mandir what it requires before you fix a date. Practice varies between institutions and it has been moving since August 2024. Ten minutes on the phone tells you what your actual constraint is, which is a much better position than discovering it with everything else arranged.
Fourth, and this is the part people miss: the registration afterwards has its own witness requirement, and it is different. For a registration under the Hindu Marriage Act, the Revenue Department states that both parties, along with a Gazetted Officer who attended their marriage, need to be present before the SDM. A couple who solve the mandir witness problem and then discover this one at the SDM counter have solved half a problem. Plan both together.
What we will not do - and what you should refuse if it is offered - is supply strangers to attest to a wedding they did not attend. That is a false attestation on a record, it is precisely what the courts have been cracking down on, and it produces a certificate that gets picked apart the first time anyone examines it seriously. Which, for a couple whose family may later contest the marriage, is exactly the wrong document to be holding.
Age is what families actually attack
If a family is going to challenge the marriage, this is where they go, and it is worth understanding before rather than after.
The pattern is consistent. A complaint is made alleging kidnapping or wrongful confinement. Where the woman's age can be disputed, allegations under the POCSO Act are added. Sometimes an allegation of rape by deception is included. The entire matter then turns on one thing: proof of age.
So the single most important preparation, before anything else, is the matriculation certificate or the birth certificate for both of you. Not the Aadhaar, which is not primary age proof and whose date can be questioned. The document that a school or a registrar issued. Get it, photograph it, keep copies in more than one place and with one trusted person.
If your documents disagree with each other about a date of birth - and they often do, because dates were entered casually a generation ago - that has to be addressed at the source, and it is urgent. A discrepancy that is a nuisance in ordinary life becomes the whole case if a POCSO allegation is made.
The Section 5(iii) ages are 21 for the bridegroom and 18 for the bride, and Order 2(a) of the Delhi (Compulsory Registration of Marriage) Order, 2014 requires the same for registration. Below those ages the position is entirely different and this page does not apply to you - the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 governs, no Delhi SDM will register such a marriage, and there are serious criminal consequences for those who perform or facilitate one. Nobody should be advising otherwise.
Our Hindu Marriage Act page sets out all five conditions and what actually happens when each is breached, including the age rule, which most published guidance gets wrong.
Privacy - what gets recorded and who finds out
Couples ask this constantly and get vague answers. Here is what is actually true.
Under the Hindu Marriage Act route there is no public notice at any stage. The ceremony is private, and the mandir's certificate is its own document. Registration with the SDM creates a government record, and the Hindu Marriage Register is open to inspection at reasonable times under Section 8 - but that is a register at an office, not a notice displayed for objection, and it is a completely different exposure from the Special Marriage Act notice.
Under the Special Marriage Act, by contrast, the notice of intended marriage is published and displayed, and Section 7 allows any person to object during the 30 days. For a couple worried about interference, that is the material difference between the two routes, and it should be weighed deliberately before a notice is filed rather than discovered afterwards.
Nobody is informed of your marriage on your behalf. There is no letter to your parents, no verification visit to your family home as part of an ordinary Hindu Marriage Act registration, and no requirement that anybody be told.
The realistic risks to your privacy are ordinary rather than procedural. A shared location. A relative who is told in confidence. A social media post. A delivery address. A witness who mentions it. In our experience these account for almost every case where a family found out before the couple intended, and none of them involve the registration process.
One more practical note. If you are worried enough about your family's reaction to be reading this section carefully, read our police protection page as well, and put a written complaint on record early if threats begin. Protection is available before the marriage as well as after - you do not have to wait until something happens.
Choosing your route when the family is opposed
The route choice is the most consequential decision a couple in this position makes, and it is usually made by accident.
If both of you are Hindu, Buddhist, Jain or Sikh, the Hindu Marriage Act route is available: no notice period, no residence requirement for the ceremony, and the marriage complete on the day. Registration follows. This is why the Arya Samaj route dominates in this situation.
If one of you is not, the Hindu Marriage Act cannot apply. Your options are the Special Marriage Act - 30 days of residence, then a 30-day public notice, no conversion by anybody - or a genuine conversion followed by marriage under the shared personal law. Both are lawful and both have real costs. The Special Marriage Act's cost is exposure during the notice; the conversion route's cost is that it must be genuine, and that in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand a prior declaration to the District Magistrate is mandatory and the offences are cognizable and non-bailable. Delhi has no such law, but the exposure follows where you live, not where the ceremony is.
If either of you has been married before, that marriage must be properly dissolved by a decree first. Separation is not divorce and a pending petition is not a decree. A second marriage during a subsisting first is void under Section 11 and bigamy under Section 17 - and a family looking for a way to attack the marriage will find that faster than anything else.
And if you live outside Delhi, note that the residence condition under the Special Marriage Act attaches to where you actually live, which for couples from UP, Bihar or Haryana usually makes their home district the practical forum rather than Delhi. Our outstation couples page sets out the three lawful routes there.
Documents to have ready
For a couple marrying without family support, document preparation matters more than for anyone else - because you may not be able to go home and fetch something, and because your documents may later be the whole case.
- Age proof for both - matriculation certificate or birth certificate. This is the most important document you own in this situation; carry the original and keep copies with a trusted person
- Identity proof for both - Aadhaar, PAN, voter ID, passport or driving licence
- Address proof for both, for whichever address you will actually rely on
- Passport-size photographs, six each
- Two witnesses for the mandir ceremony with their own identity and address proof and photographs - and, given the August 2024 Delhi direction, ideally including a relative from each side or a long-standing acquaintance where a relative is genuinely unavailable
- For the registration afterwards, whatever your route requires - and for a Hindu Marriage Act registration the Revenue Department requires a Gazetted Officer who attended the marriage
- Where either party was married before: the certified copy of the decree of divorce or the death certificate of the former spouse
- Photographs of the ceremony itself once it happens, showing the rites being performed - the fire, the vows, the seven steps. These become your evidence
- The purohit's name and contact details, and the mandir's register entry or serial number
- Copies of everything, stored somewhere other than the phone you carry
After the ceremony - and why registration matters more for you
Every couple should register. For a couple marrying against family opposition, it is not administrative housekeeping - it is the single strongest protective step available.
The reason is straightforward. If your marriage is ever questioned - in a police complaint, in a protection petition, in a habeas corpus proceeding, in a maintenance or succession dispute - the first thing everybody looks at is whether you are actually married, under which law, and whether it is registered. A registered marriage converts a contested question of fact into a public record that anyone can verify.
The Allahabad High Court has made the point from the other direction. In Shruti Agnihotri (July 2024) it held that certificates - from Arya Samaj or from the Registrar - are not sole proof, and that a certificate issued without the requisite ceremonies confirms no marital status. And in Maharaj Singh (April 2025) it confirmed that an Arya Samaj marriage performed per the Vedic procedure is valid under Section 7 and that the certificate can be substantiated by the purohit who performed it. Your evidence is the ceremony, the people who saw it, and the record you create afterwards.
In Delhi, registration goes to the SDM of the sub-division where either of you resides. Rs 100 under the Hindu Marriage Act as published by the Revenue Department, applications received 9.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. on working days, response normally within about 15 days; or Rs 200 under the Delhi Order 2014 within 60 days, with condonation at Rs 500 beyond that. Note that Delhi's districts were reorganised on 1 January 2026 - 13 districts and 39 sub-divisions now.
Do it inside the 60 days, and do it before anybody scatters. The witnesses, the purohit and the photographs are all easiest to assemble in the first weeks, and hardest exactly when you most need them.
What not to do
Some of these are offered to couples in this position, and every one of them makes things worse rather than better.
- Do not use a false age or an altered document. Age is precisely where a family will attack, and a discrepancy that would have been survivable becomes fatal once it looks deliberate
- Do not accept produced witnesses who do not know you. This is what the August 2024 Delhi direction and the courts' criticism of marriage shops are aimed at, and the certificate it produces is the one that gets picked apart
- Do not take a same-day conversion certificate so that a mandir ceremony can proceed for an interfaith couple. No mandir has any statutory power to convert anybody, and in UP, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand it is a criminal-law question as well
- Do not marry while an earlier marriage is undissolved, however long the separation has been. It is void under Section 11 and bigamy under Section 17, and it hands your family the argument
- Do not skip the registration because you are worried about creating a record. The record is what protects you; the absence of one is what leaves the marriage arguable
- Do not disappear without your documents. Couples who leave home in a hurry without the matriculation certificate spend the following weeks trying to obtain the one document the entire matter turns on
- Do not rely on a mandir that quotes a price without asking about your ages, marital status and documents. That is the profile of exactly the operations the courts have criticised
How we help
The work here is preparation, and for couples in this position preparation is protection.
We check the Section 5 conditions against your actual documents before anything is arranged - ages proved from the right proof, marital status confirmed, and the sapinda and prohibited-degree questions asked properly rather than assumed away. We tell you which route your facts allow and what each one exposes you to, including the Special Marriage Act notice, which is the decision that matters most for a couple in your situation.
We settle the witness question in advance - with the mandir for the ceremony, and with the SDM office for the registration, since the two requirements are different and the Gazetted Officer point catches almost everybody. Then the registration file: affidavits, ceremony evidence assembled properly, the mandir letter, the correct sub-division under the reorganised district map, filing inside the morning window, and following through until the certificate is issued.
What we do not do is supply witnesses who do not know you, arrange a conversion certificate, or send you to a place that issues certificates rather than solemnising marriages. Every one of those produces a document that fails at the moment you need it to hold - which, for a couple whose family may contest the marriage, is a foreseeable moment.
If threats have already started, read our police protection page and act on it in parallel; the documentation and the protection complaint reinforce each other, and a protection petition backed by a registered marriage is a different document from one that is not.
The review is free and entirely confidential. Send photographs of your documents on WhatsApp or call, and you will get a straight answer on what your facts allow, what your file needs and what it will cost - before you commit to anything.
A note on how to read this page
This is general legal information about marrying without parental consent in Delhi as at 2026, not advice on your case.
Mandir practice on witnesses has been moving since the Delhi High Court's directions in August 2024, and it varies between institutions. Confirm what your specific mandir requires, and separately what your SDM office requires for the registration, rather than relying on any general page including this one.
The legal position, by contrast, is settled and worth holding on to. Two adults do not need anyone's permission to marry. Section 5 does not list parental consent among the conditions. The Supreme Court has said so in terms, more than once, over twenty years. Families have social power in this situation; they do not have legal power.
What decides outcomes is not whether you are in the right - you are - but whether the documentation is in order, whether the ages are provable, whether the ceremony genuinely happened with genuine witnesses, and whether the marriage was registered. All four of those are things you can control, and all four are easiest to get right at the start.
Frequently asked questions
Can we marry without our parents' consent?
Yes. Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act lists the conditions for a valid marriage - no living spouse, capacity to consent, ages of 21 and 18, prohibited degrees and sapinda relationship - and parental consent is not among them. The Supreme Court held in Lata Singh v. State of U.P. (2006) that a major is free to marry whom she wishes and that disapproving parents can at most cut social relations. Families have social power here; they do not have legal power.
What is the minimum age?
The bridegroom must have completed 21 years and the bride 18, under Section 5(iii). Order 2(a) of the Delhi (Compulsory Registration of Marriage) Order, 2014 requires the same for registration, and no Delhi SDM will register outside those ages. Below them the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 governs and there are serious criminal consequences for those who perform or facilitate such a marriage.
Why do couples choose Arya Samaj when families object?
Because there is no notice period. A marriage under the Hindu Marriage Act is complete when the ceremony is complete - nothing is displayed publicly beforehand and nobody is given an opportunity to object. The Special Marriage Act, by contrast, requires 30 days of residence and then a 30-day public notice open to objection by any person, which for a couple worried about interference is the single largest practical risk in the process.
Do we need witnesses who are relatives?
This has changed in practice. In Mukesh Kumar Sen v. State (NCT of Delhi), 2024:DHC:6312-DB (27 August 2024), the Delhi High Court directed a mandir to ensure witnesses are genuine and bona fide and to require at least one witness who is a relative from each side, or a long-standing acquaintance where a relative is unavailable. The directions were addressed to a particular mandir rather than laid down for all - but a copy went to the Chief Secretary and Delhi mandirs have tightened practice since. Ask your mandir before fixing a date.
We have nobody from either family. What do we do?
Work the problem rather than looking for a way round it. Widen your definition of who might come - a cousin, an older sibling, an aunt who disagrees with the family privately is more common than couples expect. A long-standing acquaintance is contemplated where a relative is genuinely unavailable: someone who actually knows you and has for a while, and can say honestly how. And ask the specific mandir what it requires before you arrange anything - practice varies and has been moving.
Can we hire witnesses?
No, and refuse it if it is offered. Producing witnesses who did not attend is a false attestation, it is exactly what the courts have been cracking down on, and it produces a certificate that gets picked apart the first time anyone examines it seriously. For a couple whose family may later contest the marriage, that is a foreseeable moment and precisely the wrong document to be holding.
Will our parents be informed?
No. Nobody is informed of your marriage on your behalf. There is no letter to your family, no verification visit to your parents' home as part of an ordinary Hindu Marriage Act registration, and no requirement that anybody be told. In practice, families find out through ordinary things - a shared location, a relative told in confidence, a social media post, a delivery address - rather than through the process.
Will the marriage appear in any public record?
Registration creates a government record, and the Hindu Marriage Register is open to inspection at reasonable times under Section 8. But that is a register at an office, not a notice displayed for objection - a completely different exposure from the Special Marriage Act's public notice under Sections 6 and 7, which any person may object to within 30 days.
Which route is safer if we are worried about our families?
Where both of you are Hindu, Buddhist, Jain or Sikh, the Hindu Marriage Act route - no notice period, ceremony complete on the day, registration afterwards. Where one of you is not, the Act cannot apply, and the options are the Special Marriage Act with its public notice, or a genuine conversion properly done. That route choice is the most consequential decision a couple in your position makes, and it is usually made by accident rather than deliberately.
Can an interfaith couple marry at an Arya Samaj mandir?
Not as they are. A Hindu Marriage Act marriage requires both parties to fall within Section 2 - Hindu, Buddhist, Jain or Sikh. A same-day conversion certificate from a mandir is not a solution: no mandir has any statutory power to convert anybody, and the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Rahul v. State of M.P. (2022) declared such a certificate null and void. In UP, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand it is a criminal-law question too, with a prior declaration to the District Magistrate required.
Is an inter-caste marriage a problem?
Not legally, and this route handles it squarely. Section 2 of the Arya Marriage Validation Act, 1937 provides that a marriage between two Arya Samajis is not invalid by reason only of their belonging to different castes or sub-castes. Two Hindus of different castes need nothing extra beyond the ordinary Section 5 conditions.
What if our families threaten us?
Act early rather than waiting for something to happen. Call 112 if anything is immediate. Then put a written complaint on record with the SHO of the police station where you live and get it acknowledged - protection is available before the marriage as well as after, and courts routinely protect adults facing threats for marrying by choice. Free legal aid is available through the Delhi State Legal Services Authority and the NALSA helpline on 15100. Our police protection page sets out the routes in detail.
Can our family get the marriage cancelled?
No, not by objecting. In Shafin Jahan v. Asokan (2018) the Supreme Court set aside a High Court order that had annulled a marriage at a father's instance, holding that annulling a marriage in habeas corpus proceedings was plainly in excess of judicial power and that the choice of a partner lies within the exclusive domain of each individual. What families actually do is file criminal complaints - kidnapping, wrongful confinement, POCSO where age is disputed - which is why age proof and registration matter so much.
What is the most important document to have?
The matriculation certificate or birth certificate for both of you. If a family challenges the marriage, they attack age first, and where a POCSO allegation is made the whole matter turns on that one document. Not the Aadhaar, which is not primary age proof. Carry the original, and keep copies in more than one place and with one trusted person.
Our documents show different dates of birth. What now?
Fix it at the source, and treat it as urgent. A date-of-birth discrepancy between the school certificate and the Aadhaar is a nuisance in ordinary life and becomes the entire case if an age allegation is made. It is fixable, but it has to be addressed before the marriage rather than explained afterwards.
Do we have to register the marriage?
You should, and for a couple in your position more than anyone. Your marriage is valid without it - Section 8(5) says the validity of a Hindu marriage is in no way affected by the omission to register - but registration converts a contested question of fact into a public record. If your marriage is ever questioned in a complaint, a protection petition or a dispute, the first thing everybody examines is whether it is registered.
Do we need a Gazetted Officer to register?
For registration under the Hindu Marriage Act, the Revenue Department states that both parties, along with a Gazetted Officer who attended their marriage, need to be present before the SDM. This catches almost every couple, and it catches couples without family support hardest. It is a separate question from the mandir's witness requirement, so plan both together and confirm with your specific office before the appointment.
How quickly can we marry?
The ceremony itself can be the same day if you arrive with complete documents and your witnesses, because the Hindu Marriage Act has no notice period. Registration is a separate step at a separate office - a few working days to about three weeks for a complete file, and applications are received only between 9.30 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. on working days. Where a deadline is real, tatkal registration is available under Order 10 at Rs 10,000.
What does it cost?
Three separate things, and they should never arrive as one number. The mandir's own charge for the ceremony, which it sets itself. The government fee, which is small and fixed - Rs 100 for registration under the Hindu Marriage Act, or Rs 200 under the Delhi Order within 60 days. And documentation or service cost. Anyone who will not separate those three in writing before you pay is hiding which part you would have paid anyway.
One of us was married before. Does that change anything?
Completely, and it must be dealt with first. The earlier marriage has to be dissolved by a decree - separation is not divorce and a pending petition is not a decree. A second marriage during a subsisting first is void under Section 11 and bigamy under Section 17. If your family is looking for a way to attack the marriage, this is the fastest one available to them. Our second marriage page sets out when remarriage is lawful.
We live outside Delhi. Can we still marry here?
For the ceremony, yes - the Hindu Marriage Act has no residence condition, so a couple from UP, Bihar or Haryana can marry at a Delhi mandir. The residence question re-enters at registration and matters a great deal if you were thinking of the Special Marriage Act, where Section 4 requires 30 days of residence before notice. Our outstation couples page sets out the three lawful routes.
Should we tell the mandir our families do not approve?
Yes. A good mandir will handle it sensibly and tell you exactly what it needs on witnesses, and a place that reacts badly to the question has told you something useful about itself. Concealing it helps nobody - the witness requirement is the same either way, and you would rather know the answer a week before than at the gate.
What photographs should we make sure we have?
Photographs showing the rites actually being performed - the fire, the vows, the seven steps - not only the garlanding and a group photo. Those become your evidence that the ceremony took place, which matters after Dolly Rani v. Manish Kumar Chanchal (2024) and matters far more for a couple whose marriage may be contested. Also note the purohit's name and contact details, and the mandir's register entry number.
Is a marriage without family approval weaker in any way?
No. A marriage is valid or it is not, and family approval has no bearing on it. What can be weaker is the evidence - fewer people who attended, photographs nobody took, witnesses who cannot later be found. That is an evidence problem, not a validity problem, and it is entirely fixable by preparing properly and registering promptly.
What should we send you first?
Both age proofs and both identity proofs, your religions, whether either of you has been married before, and where each of you lives. Those four answers determine which route your facts allow and what your file needs. Send them on WhatsApp - the review is free, confidential, and you will get a straight answer before you arrange anything.