Which Marriage Law Applies to Us? Court Marriage in Karawal Nagar

Karawal Nagar after the 2026 reorganisation

The Delhi government's notification of 25 December 2025, effective 1 January 2026, took the National Capital Territory from eleven revenue districts and thirty-three sub-divisions to thirteen and thirty-nine. The North East district comprises Karawal Nagar, Shahdara, Yamuna Vihar and Gokalpur.

Shahdara used to be a district in its own right and is not one any more, so any material telling you to go to 'Shahdara district' predates this year.

The Karawal Nagar sub-division covers Karawal Nagar and its extensions, Sabhapur, Sadatpur, Dayalpur, Mustafabad, Sherpur and the belt towards the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh boundary. The SDM functions as Marriage Officer for people resident within it, at the Revenue Department's published counter window of 9.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. on any working day.

The point that governs everything: registration is faith-blind

Before the individual laws, the rule that sits above all of them in Delhi.

Clause 1(b) of the Delhi (Compulsory Registration of Marriage) Order, 2014 provides that the Order extends 'to all marriages solemnized in Delhi irrespective of caste creed and religion professed by the parties to the marriage'.

That sentence does a great deal of work. It means the obligation to register, the sixty-day window in clause 4(a), the fee of Rs 200, the requirement in clause 4(d) that the parties appear in person with two witnesses who can certify to the solemnisation and hold proof of permanent residence in Delhi, the condonation provision in clause 6, the penalty in clause 7 and the optional priority facility in clause 10 apply to a marriage solemnised in Delhi whoever the parties are and by whatever rite they married.

So the question 'can our marriage be registered in Delhi' does not turn on religion. What religion determines is how the marriage was created - which law solemnised it, what the ceremony had to be, and what document the officiant produces. That document is then evidence in the registration file.

Two consequences follow, and both are worth stating plainly. A refusal to register a marriage because of the parties' religion has no basis in the Order. And a religious certificate - a church register extract, a nikahnama, a priest's certificate - is not a government marriage certificate. It proves the ceremony. The certificate that banks, passport offices and consulates ask for is the one the Marriage Officer issues.

The laws in force, and who each one governs

Here is the map. Find yourselves on it before doing anything else.

Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Applies where both parties are Hindu, Buddhist, Jain or Sikh. The marriage is created by the ceremony - section 7 provides that where the rites include saptapadi, the marriage becomes complete and binding on the seventh step. Registration follows under section 8. Ages: twenty-one and eighteen, section 5(iii).

Anand Marriage Act, 1909. Governs a Sikh marriage solemnised by the Anand Karaj ceremony. Our Adarsh Nagar page deals with it and with Anand marriage registration.

Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872. Governs a marriage where one or both parties is a Christian. Dealt with below.

Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936. Governs marriages between Parsis. Dealt with below.

Muslim personal law. A nikah is a contract, evidenced by the nikahnama. Our Kotwali page deals with the nikahnama and with what it does and does not do once a government certificate is needed.

Special Marriage Act, 1954. A secular statute available to any two persons who meet the four conditions in section 4, whatever their faith or lack of it. Nobody converts. It is the route for interfaith couples and for anybody who wants a marriage created by the state rather than by a ceremony - and it is available even where a personal law would also have been available.

One thing that is not on this map: there is no law under which a person must convert in order to marry. The Special Marriage Act exists precisely so that this is unnecessary, and a conversion undertaken solely to access a different route is the sort of thing that gets litigated afterwards.

Christian marriages: the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872

This statute is a century and a half old, it is still in force, and it is barely written about. Here is what it actually requires.

Who may solemnise. The Act works through authorised persons - ministers of religion, persons licensed under it to grant certificates of marriage, and Marriage Registrars appointed under it. A marriage to which the Act applies must be solemnised by one of them, in accordance with the Act. That is the first practical question for any Christian couple in Delhi: who is solemnising this, and under what authority.

The conditions for Indian Christians. Section 60 sets out the terms on which a marriage between Indian Christians may be certified without preliminary notice. First, 'the age of the man intending to be married shall not be under twenty-one years, and the age of the woman intending to be married shall not be under eighteen years'. Second, neither party shall have a wife or husband living. Third, the marriage must take place in the presence of a person licensed under section 9 and of at least two credible witnesses other than that person, and each party must say to the other the words the section prescribes - invoking God and Christ, and taking the other as lawful wedded spouse.

Note what that third requirement means in practice. Two credible witnesses, in addition to the officiant. Not two including the priest. And the declaration is part of the ceremony - the Act specifies the words, and a ceremony that omits them is not a ceremony under this section.

What the file then contains. The certificate or register extract from the church, showing the date, the officiant and the witnesses; the officiant's authority; and, where the marriage was solemnised by a Marriage Registrar under the Act, the registrar's certificate. Bring the original and a copy.

And then the Delhi Order applies on top, as it does to everyone: sixty days from the marriage under clause 4(a), the fee under clause 4, appearance in person with two witnesses holding Delhi permanent residence proof under clause 4(d), and the condonation and penalty provisions in clauses 6 and 7 if you are late.

Where one party is a Christian and the other is not, the Indian Christian Marriage Act may still apply to the marriage. But many such couples find the Special Marriage Act simpler, because it asks nothing about anybody's faith and produces a certificate that section 13(2) makes conclusive evidence of the marriage.

• The marriage must be solemnised by a person authorised under the Act
• Man not under twenty-one; woman not under eighteen - s.60(1)
• Neither party may have a spouse living - s.60(2)
• At least two credible witnesses in addition to the officiant - s.60(3)
• The declaration the section prescribes must actually be made by each party
• Keep the church certificate or register extract, and the officiant's authority
• The Delhi Order 2014 then applies to registration, as it does to every faith

Parsi marriages: the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936

Delhi's Parsi community is small, and precisely for that reason there is almost nothing written about how a Parsi marriage is solemnised and registered here. The Act is short and clear.

Section 3 sets the requisites to the validity of a Parsi marriage. The parties must not be related to each other in any of the degrees of consanguinity or affinity set out in Schedule I to the Act. The marriage must be solemnised according to the Parsi form of ceremony called 'Ashirvad' by a priest, in the presence of two Parsi witnesses other than the priest. And the man must have completed twenty-one years and the woman eighteen.

The section also protects children: where a marriage is invalid for want of these requisites, a child of the union is legitimate if the marriage would otherwise have been valid.

Section 6 deals with certification and registry, and it places the duty on the priest rather than on the couple: 'Every marriage contracted under this Act shall, immediately on the solemnization thereof, be certified by the officiating priest.' The certificate is signed by the priest, by both parties and by the two witnesses, and the priest forwards it, with the prescribed fee, to the Registrar, who enters it in a register. The entry is evidence of the particulars it contains.

So the Parsi position differs from every other route in one respect worth knowing: the primary registration duty falls on the officiating priest at the moment of the ceremony, not on the couple in the following weeks. If you are marrying by Ashirvad, ask the priest at the time whether the certificate has been signed by all five people and forwarded, and get a copy for yourself.

The Delhi Order 2014 applies as it does to all marriages solemnised in Delhi, and the certificate under section 6 is the document that evidences the ceremony in that file.

The Special Marriage Act as the common ground

Whatever your faiths, the Special Marriage Act is always available, and for interfaith couples it is usually the answer.

It is a secular statute. Section 4 sets four conditions - neither party has a spouse living; both are capable of giving valid consent; the man has completed twenty-one and the woman eighteen; and the parties are not within the degrees of prohibited relationship in the First Schedule, subject to the proviso where a custom governing at least one of them permits the marriage. Religion is not a condition. Citizenship is not a condition. Nobody converts.

The procedure. Notice under section 5 to the Marriage Officer of a district in which at least one of you has resided for not less than thirty days immediately preceding it. Publication under section 6, including - where neither party permanently resides in that district - transmission of a copy to the district of each party's permanent residence for publication there. Thirty days for objections under section 7, confined to the section 4 conditions. Inquiry and decision within thirty days under section 8 if an objection is made, with an appeal to the district court under section 8(2). Solemnisation on or after the thirty-first day, before three witnesses, under section 11. And the certificate under section 13, which section 13(2) makes conclusive evidence that a marriage under the Act has been solemnised.

The cost of that route is time and publicity: thirty-one days minimum, and a notice that is displayed and, where section 6(3) applies, sent to your home districts. The benefit is that it works for anybody, produces the strongest certificate the system issues, and requires nobody to change anything about who they are.

There is also Chapter III, which is less known. Sections 15 to 18 let a Marriage Officer register a marriage that was celebrated in any other form - a church wedding, an Ashirvad, a nikah, a Hindu ceremony - so that under section 18 it is thereafter deemed to be a marriage solemnised under the Act. It requires a ceremony to have been performed with the parties living together as husband and wife ever since, both parties to have completed twenty-one at the time of registration, and both to have resided in the district for thirty days. Our Gandhi Nagar page sets it out in detail.

The registration file, whichever law applies

The core file is the same for everyone. What changes is the document proving the ceremony.

Self-attest every document and carry originals for verification. On age, the Revenue Department lists exactly three acceptable proofs of date of birth: matriculation certificate, passport or birth certificate. Aadhaar is not among them - it belongs in the file as identity and address evidence. On residence, the Department lists voter I-Card, ration card, driving licence or passport.

• Application in Form A signed by both parties
• Proof of the ceremony under the applicable law: church certificate or register extract, the priest's certificate under Parsi Act s.6, the nikahnama, or the officiant's certificate and ceremony photographs
• Proof of date of birth for each party: matriculation certificate, passport or birth certificate
• Proof of residence for each party: voter I-card, ration card, driving licence or passport
• Affidavits: date and place of the marriage, marital status, no prohibited relationship
• Two passport photographs of each party, attested
• Photographs of the marriage ceremony, attested
• Two witnesses who attended the ceremony, holding Delhi permanent residence proof - cl.4(d)
• Certified copy of any divorce decree, or death certificate of a previous spouse
• Embassy no-impediment certificate and valid visa, for a foreign national
• Fee receipt

Fees and timelines

Clause 4 of the Delhi Order 2014 sets the registration fee at Rs 200 and gives sixty days from the marriage, excluding the day of the final ceremony. Clause 6 allows condonation of a delay of up to sixty further days on an additional Rs 500. Clause 7 imposes a Rs 1,000 penalty beyond that, remittable by the Additional District Magistrate or District Magistrate. Clause 10 provides an optional priority facility for an additional Rs 10,000. The Revenue Department's Hindu Marriage Act page states a fee of Rs 100 on that route. Both figures are genuine and belong to different instruments.

On timing: a registration where the file is complete takes days. A Special Marriage Act solemnisation cannot be completed in less than thirty-one days from the notice, and no fee shortens a statutory notice period.

And the thing to hold on to from this page: your religion decides how you married. It does not decide whether Delhi will register it. Clause 1(b) settles that for everyone.