Rajasthan High Court: In a petition for quashing an FIR, a single-judge bench of Farjand Ali, J., granted interim protection to the petitioners from arrest until further order. The Court directed the Department of Home and Department of Minority Affairs to deliberate on issuing guidelines mandating diglot Nikah-Namas, including either Hindi or English, to ensure clarity and ease for public officials.
In the instant matter, the petitioners challenged the registration of FIR at Police Station Sujangarh, District Churu. During the proceedings, the petitioners presented a Nikah-Nama (marriage certificate) purportedly executed by a Qazi, documenting the marriage between the petitioners and the alleged victim.
The Court stated that marriage is a sacred institution and must be documented clearly and transparently to be recognised in legal and public domains. The Court stated that the Nikah-Nama, as submitted, lacked comprehensibility due to its Urdu language format, creating procedural and administrative challenges.
“The Nikah-Nama (marriage certificate) can be taken as a piece of evidence in corroboration of oral plea of fact of marriage but when the content of certificate is not understandable to employees of Government institution, public institution, private institution and several other departments etc. then it creates problem and brings a perplexing situation and so also the same may increase complexities.”
The Court emphasised on the need for marriage certificates (Nikah-Namas) to be unambiguous, clear, and comprehensible to public officials and institutions and suggested that issuing Nikah-Namas in Hindi or English alongside Urdu could address complexities and improve understanding among public servants and officers.
The Court directed the District Magistrate/District Collector of each city to maintain a list of authorised individuals eligible to perform Nikah ceremonies. The Court instructed the State authorities to deliberate on issuing guidelines for ensuring Nikah-Nama certificates are issued in bilingual formats (Hindi or English along with Urdu). The Court directed the Department of Minority Affairs to take steps to implement these measures.
The Court refrained from deciding on the sufficiency of material for quashing the FIR at this stage. The Court granted interim protection to the petitioners and directed that they are not to be arrested in connection with FIR until further orders. The Court the Secretary of the Department of Minority Affairs to appear before the Court on the next hearing date.
[Adnan Ali v. State of Rajasthan, S.B. Criminal Misc(Pet.) No. 8295/2024, Decided on 12-11-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
Mr. M.A. Siddiqui, Mr. Sikander Khan and Mr. Majhar Hussain, Counsel for the Petitioners
Mr. B.L. Bhati, AAG and Mr. Deepak Chandak assisted by Mr. Vikram Singh Rajpurohit, Dy.G.A, Counsel for the Respondents
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