Rights And Duties: ‘Revise Christian Marriages Act’

LAHORE: Lahore High Court on Thursday issued notices to the federal and Punjab governments on a petition demanding revisions in the 1872 Christian Marriage Act in light of contemporary needs. Bishop Jaanisar Asif said the colonial Act did not meet the requirements of contemporary times and needed to be revised. He said the law required those licenced to grant marriage certificate to have permits renewed after every five years. Asif said the impugned Act also set a minimum matriculation requirement to obtain marriage licenses. He said such a provision was not applied to Muslim marriage registrars and was discriminatory.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2015.