The couples who secretly held weddings in the month of May when the lockdown restrictions were in state and weddings were not allowed, now the Madhya Pradesh districts will not issue marriage certificates. It has been told by official that such marriages have been declared illegal.
Reports suggest that even though the Madhya Pradesh government had banned marriages in May in view of the rising cases of Covid-19, there have been at least 130 marriage ceremonies that were conducted ‘secretly’ while violating the norms set by the government.
Now some of the district collectors have declared that such marriage will be declared illegal. Also the registrar office has been ordered to not issue any certificates to such couples. However If the officials fail to comply with the decision, they may be booked under section 188 for ‘ disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant under the Indian Penal Code’ (IPC), an order said.
District collector of Ujjain Ashish Singh says people have been conducting marriages secretly in the absence of any provision of punishment.