Supreme Court: The 3-judge bench of Dipak Misra, CJ and AM Khanwilkar and Dr. DY Chandrachud, JJ referred the question as to whether a Parsi woman automatically gets converted to Hinduism after marrying a Hindu man under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 to a 5-judge Constitution bench. The Court directed the matter to be added in the list of matters which are already listed before the Constitution Bench on 10.10.2017.
The Court said that the larger bench will have to consider whether the five-judge bench judgement in the triple talaq matter can also have some bearing in the present case, apart from examining he applicability of ‘doctrine of culture’ which provides that a woman assumes the religion of her husband after marriage.
The bench was hearing a plea filed by Goolrokh Gupta challenging the Bombay High Court judgement that had held that a Parsi woman is deemed to be converted to Hinduism after marrying a Hindu man under the Special Marriage Act. [Goolrokh M. Gupta v. Burjor Pardiwala, Special Leave to Appeal (C) No(s).18889/2012, order dated 09.10.2017]
With inputs from The Hindu