Can a woman retain her religion after marriage?

THE petitioner is seeking direction allowing her to enter Fire Temple and the Tower of Silence Ticklish query of Parsi married to Hindu referred to 5-judge Constitution bench

The Supreme Court on Monday referred to a 5-judge Constitution Bench a ticklish question on whether a woman can retain her religion after marrying a man of another religion under the Special Marriage Act, which otherwise doesn't require either to renounce their religion.

The petitioners are a Parsi woman, Goolrokh Gupta, who married a Hindu but did not change her religion, and her lawyer sister Shiraz Contractor Patodia, from Valsad in Gujarat. They are seeking court’s direction allowing them to enter the Fire Temple to offer prayers, as also the Tower of Silence, for funeral ceremonies -- as and when their parents in 80s or their Parsi relatives -- pass away.

Their case challenging a Gujarat High Court's 2012 ruling against them is pending before the Apex Court and its verdict may impact a large number of Parsi women marrying outside the community.

A Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Mishra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud on Monday held that a larger Bench will have to examine the applicability of "doctrine of culture" that provides for a woman to assume the religion of her husband after marriage. It said the Constitution Bench will also have to examine if the 5judge Bench ruling on the triple talaq has some bearing in this case.

The Parsi religion does not allow entry of non-Parsis in the Fire Temple or in the Tower of Silence; the Valsad Parsi Anjuman Trust had refused them entry into the temple on the plea that they had ceased to be Parsis after marrying outside.

The Gujarat High Court had upheld the Trust's decision ruling that a woman is "deemed and presumed" to acquire the religious status of her husband on marriage on the principle that "a woman’s decision as to which religion she follows is dependent upon the religion of her father and, after her marriage, it is dependent on that of her husband."

Pointing out that they continue all Parsi religious practices at home, they challenged the High Court ruling saying "it's wrong to say that the rule applied even to marriages solemnised under the Special marriages Act which is a special statute specifically enacted by legislature to register a special form of marriage, where neither of the parties to the marriage is required to renounce their religion."