Inter-faith couples march, call for an end to honour killing

NEW DELHI: As a group of rightwing activists talked about forceful marriage and conversions, couples who had gone through inter-faith marriage took out a march to demand amendments in the Special Marriage Act.

Couples stood up against honour killing and demanded an amendment to the Special Marriage Act, in the march organised by the Dhanak for Humanity, an organisation of couples who had opted for interfaith/caste marriage.

“I started this organization with my husband in 2004 after the Gujarat earthquake. As we had gone through an inter-faith marriage, we knew there were a lot of conversion and legal issues involved. So, we started this organization to support couples without them needing to convert,” founder of Dhanak for Humanity, Ranu Kulshrestha told HT.

The group prepared a charter of demands that they intended to submit to the government.

The marching couples highlighted that marriage was a personal choice and demanded that it be equated as a basic human right.

The couples gathered at the occasion celebrated their union and also highlighted the importance of socio-cultural diversity.

Archana Singh and Abdul Mahmood have been married for the last 10 years with a young daughter. Though they both faced opposition initially, their wedlock was eventually accepted.

“Our society is such that even in a same religion marriage, there are a lot of problems. I have married a person of a different religion, so opposition was there. But I stood strong and we ultimately persevered,” Archana said.