Maharashtra government has proposed formulation of a separate law for marriages in the Buddhist community, the draft of which will be ready by the end of this month. A Social Justice Department official said that the Buddhist community has been demanding a separate law for their marriages since Dr BR Ambedkar converted to Buddhism in Nagpur in 1957.
The official added that marriages of Catholics, Jews, Parsis and Muslims are already covered under the Hindu Marriage Act, but Buddhists are not covered under this Act. The proposal for a separate Buddhist marriage act was first put forth by former State Cabinet Minister Nitin Raut in 2007.
It came after a Nagpur court deemed the marriage of a Buddhist couple as invalid as it was solemnised as per the Buddhist rituals and there was no specific marriage act for the community.
Based on Raut’s proposal, a committee comprising Principal Secretaries of various departments, including Women and Child Welfare, Law and Judiciary, Social Justice as well as Commissioner of Social Welfare and Chairman of SC/ST Commission was constituted in the same year.
Since certain discrepancies were found in the earlier proposal, a fresh plan was made. This fresh plan would be discussed at a meeting tomorrow to finalise it. The proposal will subsequently be put before the general public on the Social Justice Department website for suggestions and objections.