Highlighting the importance of fundamental rights of a person, the Kerala High Court recently kept in abeyance a stay, that was put in place by an appellate court in Kottayam district against a lower court order, which prohibited the Knanaya church from ousting people marrying outside its Christian community. Keeping the stay of the Additional District Court V at Kottayam in abeyance for a month, the Kerala HC said that the stay order was ‘flawed’ and that the court did not exercise its discretion judiciously, in a matter pertaining to the curtailment of fundamental right of a citizen to marry any other person of their choice.
The case pertains to the ruling against the practice of the Knanaya Catholic Church of the Archeparchy of Kottayam, ousting its members for marrying people outside the community to maintain “pure lineage”. Over the past many years, the Church has ousted dozens of people from the community for entering a wedlock without following endogamy (marrying from within the community). This was challenged by a group of reformists in the church, Knanaya Catholic Naveekarana Samithy, and people who have faced similar ostracism by the church. The petitioners contended that they face many issues including youth remaining unmarried due to this rule, to even the church denying membership to children born through surrogacy.
Considering their plea, on April 30, the Additional Sub Court of Kottayam, passed an order prohibiting the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Archeparchy of Kottayam and the Major Archiepiscopal Church from expelling members for marrying people from Catholic Church from other Dioceses. Importantly, the court also directed the church to readmit all those members who have been expelled so far.
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However, on May 18 2021, an appellate court, the Additional District Court V of Kottayam, stayed the lower court order till July this year. And in July, the court further extended the stay till the disposal of the appeal. It was challenging this that the petitioners moved the High Court.
Considering the appellate court judgement, the HC single bench of Justice VG Arun, said that the appellate court continued its stay on the lower court order without assigning valid reasons. “Even though the subsequent order was issued after hearing, that will not efface the fundamental flaw of the stay order having been granted without the court exercising its discretion judiciously,” the HC stated in its September 7 order.
Notably, the HC also drew reference to the noted Supreme Court verdict (2018) in the Hadiya case, which upheld the marriage of Kerala natives Hadiya and Shafin Jahan. Hadiya, who was born to a Hindu family converted to Islam and married Shafin Jahan, in 2016. The Kerala High Court annulled the marriage after her family falsely claimed that there is a conspiracy behind the religious conversion and wedding.
Drawing reference to the SC verdict in the Hadiya case, which said she had a right to make her choice, the High Court in the Knanaya church case, said that “there should be sufficient cause for the court to stay the decree of the trial court, thereby suspending an individual’s right to marry a partner of his choice.” The HC also added that the appellate court should not have stayed the ‘operation and execution of the decree, that too without assigning valid reasons’. The HC has kept the appellate court order in abeyance for a month.