Company : Sol Infotech Pvt. Ltd. Website : www.courtkutchehry.com ANAND MARRIAGE ACT, 1909 7 of 1909 [22nd October, 1909] CONTENTS 1. Short title and extent 2. Validity of Anand marriages 3. Exemption of certain marriages from Act Nothing in this Act shall apply 4. Saving of marriages solemnized according to other ceremonies 5. Non-validation of marriages within prohibited degrees ANAND MARRIAGE ACT, 1909 7 of 1909 [22nd October, 1909] "The object of the Bill is to set at rest doubts which may be raised of the validity of the marriage rite of the Sikhs called "Anand". This form of marriage has long been practised among the Sikhs but there are good reasons to believe that in the absence of validating enactment, doubts may be thrown upon it and Sikhs may have to face great difficulties in future and incur heavy expenses on suits instituted in the Civil Courts. It is also apprehended that in the absence of such law some Judicial Officers may be uncertain as to the validity of this orthodox Sikh custom. It is desirable therefore, that all doubts should be set at rest for the future by passing this enactment which merely validates .and accepting the rite by following any new principles". - Gazette of India. 1908, Part V, p. 357. 1. Short title and extent :- (1) This Act may be called The Anand Marriage Act, 1909; and (2) It extends to 1 [the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir] 1. Substituted for the words "except the territories, which immediately before 1st November, 1956, were comprised in Part B States" by the Miscellaneous Personal Laws (Extension) Act 1959 (48 of 1959), S. 3 and Sch. I (w.e.f. 1-2-1960). 2. Validity of Anand marriages :- All marriages which may be or may have been duly solemnized according to the Sikh marriage ceremony called Anand shall be, and shall be deemed to have been, with effect from the date of the solemnization of each respectively, good and valid in law. "Clause 2 has been recast by us so as to make it cover Anand marriages already solemnized as well as those which may be solemnized hereafter, in order to prevent any doubts being raised as to the validity of such marriages in the past. We have also omitted the reference to the re-marriages which seemed to us unnecessary, as the word "marriage" includes re-marriage also. - Select Committee Report.] 3. Exemption of certain marriages from Act Nothing in this Act shall apply :- to- (a) any marriage between persons not professing the Sikh religion, or (b) any marriage which has been judicially declared to be null and void. 4. Saving of marriages solemnized according to other ceremonies :- Nothing in this Act shall affect the validity of any marriage duly solemnized according to any other marriage ceremony customary among the Sikhs. 5. Non-validation of marriages within prohibited degrees :- Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to validate any marriage between persons who are related to each other in any degree of consanguinity or affinity which would, according to the customary law of the Sikhs, render a marriage between them illegal.