3. Requisites to validity of Parsi marriages.—1
[(1)] No marriage shall be valid if—
(a) the contracting parties are related to each other in any of the degrees of consanguinity or
affinity set forth in Schedule I; or
(b) such marriage is not solemnized according to the Parsi form of ceremony called “Ashirvad”
by a priest in the presence of two Parsi witnesses other than such priest; or
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[(c) in the case of any Parsi (whether such Parsi has changed his or her religion or domicile or
not) who, if a male, has not completed twenty-one years of age, and if a female, has not completed
eighteen years of age.]
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[(2) Notwithstanding that a marriage is invalid under any of the provisions of sub-section (1), any
child of such marriage who would have been legitimate if the marriage had been valid, shall be
legitimate.]
4. Remarriage when unlawful.—(1) No Parsi (whether such Parsi has changed his or her religion or
domicile or not) shall contract any marriage under this Act or any other law in the lifetime of his or her
wife or husband, whether a Parsi or not, except after his or her lawful divorce from such wife or husband
or after his or her marriage with such wife or husband has lawfully been declared null and void or
dissolved, and, if the marriage was contracted with such wife or husband under the Parsi Marriage and
Divorce Act 18654
(15 of 1865), or under this Act, except after a divorce, declaration or dissolution as
aforesaid under either of the said Acts.
(2) Every marriage contracted contrary to the provisions of sub-section (1) shall be void.
5. Punishment of bigamy.—Every Parsi who during the lifetime of his or her wife or husband,
whether a Parsi or not, contracts a marriage without having been lawfully divorced from such wife or
husband, or without his or her marriage with such wife or husband having legally been declared null and
void or dissolved, shall be subject to the penalties provided in sections 494 and 495 of the Indian Penal
Code (45 of 1860) for the offence of marrying again during the lifetime of a husband or wife.
1. Section 3 renumbered as sub-section (1) thereof by Act 5 of 1988, s. 2 (w.e.f. 15-4-1988).
2. Subs. by s. 2, ibid., for clause (c) (w.e.f. 15-4-1988).
3. Ins. by s. 2, ibid. (w.e.f. 15-4-1988).
4. Rep. by Act 3 of 1936, s. 53 (w.e.f. 23-4-1936).
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6. Certificate and registry of marriage.—Every marriage contracted under this Act shall,
immediately on the solemnization thereof, be certified by the officiating priest in the form contained in
Schedule II. The certificate shall be signed by the said priest, the contracting parties 1
*** and two
witnesses present at the marriage and the said priest shall thereupon send such certificate together with a
fee of two rupees to be paid by the husband to the Registrar of the place at which such marriage is
solemnized. The Registrar on receipt of the certificate and fee shall enter the certificate in a register to be
kept by him for that purpose and shall be entitled to retain the fee.
7. Appointment of Registrar.—For the purposes of this Act a Registrar shall be appointed. Within
the local limits of the ordinary original civil jurisdiction of a High Court, the Registrar shall be appointed
by the Chief Justice of such Court, and without such limits, by the State Government. Every Registrar so
appointed may be removed by the Chief Justice or State Government appointing him.
8. Marriage register to be open for public inspection.—The register of marriages mentioned in
section 6 shall, at all reasonable times, be open for inspection, and certified extracts therefrom shall, on
application, be given by the Registrar on payment to him by the applicant of two rupees for each such
extract. Every such register shall be evidence of the truth of the statements therein contained.
9. Copy of certificate to sent to Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages.—Every
Registrar, except the Registrar appointed by the Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay,
shall, at such intervals as the State Government by which he was appointed from time to time directs,
send to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages for the territories administered by such
State Government a true copy certified by him in such form as such State Government from time to time
prescribes of all certificates entered by him in the said register of marriages since the last of such
intervals.
10. Registration of divorces.—When a Court passes a decree for divorce, nullity or dissolution, the
Court shall send a copy of the decree for registration to the Registrar of Marriages within its jurisdiction
appointed under section 7; the Registrar shall enter the same in a register to be kept by him for the
purpose, and the provisions of Part II applicable to the Registrars and registers of marriages shall be
applicable, so far as may be, to the Registrars and registers of divorces and decrees of nullity and
dissolution.
11. Penalty for solemnizing marriage contrary to section 4.—Any priest knowingly and wilfully
solemnizing any marriage contrary to and in violation of section 4 shall, on conviction thereof, be
punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may
extend to two hundred rupees, or with both.
12. Penalty for priest’s neglect of requirements of section 6.—Any priest neglecting to comply
with any of the requisitions affecting him contained in section 6 shall, on conviction thereof, be punished
for every such offence with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with
fine which may extend to one hundred rupees, or with both.
13. Penalty for omitting to subscribe and attest certificate.—Every other person required by
section 6 to subscribe or attest the said certificate who shall wilfully omit or neglect so to do, shall, on
conviction thereof, be punished for every such offence with a fine not exceeding one hundred rupees.
14. Penalty for making, etc., false certificate.—Every person making or signing or attesting any
such certificate containing a statement which is false, and which he either knows or believes to be false,
shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine
which may extend to one hundred rupees, or with both; and if the act amounts to forgery as defined in the
Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), then such person shall also be liable, on conviction thereof, to the
penalties provided in section 466 of the said Code.
1. The words “, or their fathers or guardians when they shall not have completed the age of twenty-one years,” omitted by Act 5
of 1988, s. 3 (w.e.f. 15-4-1988).
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15. Penalty for failing to register certificate.—Any Registrar failing to enter the said certificate
pursuant to section 6 shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one
year, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.
16. Penalty for secreting, destroying or altering register.—Any person secreting, destroying, or
dishonestly or fraudulently altering the said register in any part thereof, shall be punished with
imprisonment of either description as defined in the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) for a term which may
extend to two years or if he be a Register, for a term which may extend to five years and shall also be
liable to fine which may extend to five hundred rupees.
17. Formal irregularity not to invalidate marriage.—No marriage contracted under this Act shall
be deemed to be invalid solely by reason of the fact that it was not certified under section 6, or that the
certificate was not sent to the Registrar, or that the certificate was defective, irregular or incorrect.