1. Heard learned counsel for the appellant, learned A.G.A for the State and perused the record.

2. On the previous date, compliance affidavit had been filed by the Learned AGA in pursuance of the order dated 02.09.2026 wherein Shri Amitabh Kumar, Assistant Inspector General Registration had personally appeared before the Court and had provided guidelines issued by Inspector General Registration, Uttar Pradesh dated March 2, 2016. He had stated that marriage had been registered on the basis of the transfer certificate as well as Aadhar Card but has not been verified as provided in the aforesaid letter dated 02.03.2026. For the same, he had submitted unconditional apology on an affidavit that he shall be very careful in future and shall ensure the verification of the date of birth before registering the marriages.

3. The necessity of compulsory registration of marriages was considered by the Supreme Court in Smt. Seema v. Ashwani Kumar, (2006) 2 SCC 578. The National Commission for Women placed before the Court the purposes sought to be achieved by compulsory registration, and indicated that non-registration adversely affects women and that compulsory registration would be of critical importance for:-

(a) prevention of child marriages and to ensure minimum age of marriage;

(b) prevention of marriages without the consent of the parties;

(c) check on illegal bigamy/polygamy;

(d) enabling married women to claim their right to live in the matrimonial house, maintenance, etc.;

(e) enabling widows to claim their inheritance rights and other benefits and privileges to which they are entitled after the death of their husband;

(f) deterring men from deserting women after marriage; and

(g) deterring parents/guardians from selling daughters/young girls to any person including a foreigner, under the garb of marriage.

4. These purposes show that compulsory registration is not intended merely as a mechanism for maintaining a record of marriages. It is a statutory safeguard against the consequences of an unrecorded or unverifiable matrimonial relationship. Its effectiveness in preventing child marriages and ensuring the minimum age of marriage depends upon the reliability of the process by which the age of the parties is ascertained before the marriage is registered. The issue is therefore not merely whether the date of birth is entered in the marriage register, but whether the process of registration is so structured that it meaningfully verifies age and thereby serves the very purpose for which compulsory registration has been contemplated.

5. The registering authority is, moreover, not a mere recording office. In Dolly Rani v. Manish Kumar Chanchal, 2024 INSC 355, the Supreme Court observed that the Registering Authority cannot treat the issue of a certificate as settling the status of the parties, and must be satisfied that the conditions of the Act are met before it registers any marriage.

29. “No doubt, under the Special Marriage Act, 1954, a man and a woman can acquire the status of being a husband and a wife as per the provisions of the said Act. The Special Marriage Act, 1954 is not restricted to Hindus. Any man and woman irrespective of their race, caste or creed can acquire the status of being a husband and a wife under the provisions of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 but under the provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (‘the Act’), there should not only be compliance of the conditions as prescribed under Section 5 of the said Act but also the couple must solemnise a marriage in accordance with Section 7 of the Act. In the absence of there being any such marriage in accordance with Section 7 of the Act, a certificate issued in that regard by any entity is of no legal consequence. Further, any registration of a marriage which has not at all taken place under Section 8 of the Act and as per the rules made by the State Government would not be evidence of a Hindu marriage and also does not confer the status of