Marriage ruling gets mixed Response in India

August 09, 2011: A ruling by the Delhi High Court last month validating the marriage of Hindu first cousins after their conversion to Christianity has evoked mixed reactions among people of various faiths in India. The ruling stems from a case filed by a retired jurist against his son, currently a magistrate, who married his uncle’s daughter after converting to Christianity.
“The Catholic Church expressly forbids the type of marriage validated by the Delhi High Court’ said Chhotebhai, spokesperson of the All India Catholic Union. In India, the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 makes marriage between cousins illegal. Father Soosai Arokiasamy of Vidyajyoti, a moral theologian, said the Church does not baptize a person – one of the acts required for conversion – simply as a convenience for getting married.
He added that the marriage of cousins is never allowed by the Catholic Church “except when there is a dispensation for special reasons.” Swami Agnivesh, a Hindu activist, said that there were scientific rather than moral objections to marriage between cousins, but that conversion to one religion or another was irrelevant.