Indian Court allows Army Major to wed Lankan girlfriend

The Karnataka High Court yesterday cleared the hurdles for an Indian Army Major to marry a foreign national, after directing the Army to relieve him of his duties and imposing a cost of Rs.75,000.

This is not a khap panchayat, this is the Army

A Bench headed by Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen, gave the ruling while rejecting the appeal by the Army, challenging the order of a single-judge bench which had directed the Army to consider the application made by Major Vikas Kumar asking that he be relieved of his duties, so that he could marry a Sri Lankan girl studying in Bengaluru.

According to the law, anyone serving in the Army and willing to marry a foreign national (except Bhutan) has to get prior permission from the government. It is mandatory to get the citizen of another country to renounce foreign citizenship. In the case of Major Vikas Kumar, the woman had refused to renounce her Sri Lankan citizenship. He had filed an application with the Army to relieve him of his duties as laid down by law. This application was rejected. Surprisingly, the Army ordered an investigation as to why Major Kumar came in contact with the Lankan woman. The Major petitioned court against the Army for rejecting his resignation and the court had directed the Army to consider his resignation in 60 days. The Army later challenged the order by appealing against it in the HC. The Chief Justice, referring to an example wherein a former Indian Preseident (K.R. Narayanan) marrying a foreign national, had strongly criticised the Army saying, “This is not a khap panchayat, this is the Army.”