REENA KUMARI Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) SMT . Reena Kumari wife of Manfred Trittel has filed the present writ petition under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India and has prayed for the issuance of a writ in the nature of certiorari for the quashment of letter/order dated 15.5.2000 (Annexure P4) passed by the Deputy Commission, Amritsar. The petitioner has further prayed that direction be given to respondent No. 2 to countersign the marriage certificate (Annexure P3), which was issued by the Registrar of Marriages, Amritsar, as per the instructions dated 22.2.1989 (Annexure P2) issued by the State Government.

(2.) THE case set up by the petitioner is that she is an Indian citizen by birth and she married with Manfred Trittel, a German citizen, who before entering into the marriage with her adopted Hinduism and as such the parties were Hindu at the time of marriage. Since the parties were Hindus, therefore, they married with each other in Gurdwara Sahib according to Sikh rites on 3.9.1999. Thereafter they applied to the Registrar of Marriages, who registered the marriage of the parties and issued certificate Annexure P1. Since the husband of the petitioner original hails from Germany and she has to join the matrimonial home of her husband in Germany, she made an application before the Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar to countersign the marriage certificate issued by the Registrar of Marriages as per the instructions of the State Government, but he has refused to put counter-signature on the plea that the husband of the petitioner is a German citizen and is not a Hindu, therefore, the marriage of the petitioner with Manfred Trittel is not in accordance with the provisions of Section 2 of the Hindu Marriage Act.

(3.) WE have heard the learned counsel for the parties and with their assistance have gone through the record of the case.