Several social media posts are falsely claiming that the Supreme Court of India has imposed a blanket ban on the marriage between a Hindu woman and a Muslim man.
BOOM found that the headline of the newspaper clipping refers to the judgement of a single case, with no overarching applicability.
The case is from January 2019, where the Supreme Court ruled on the marriage between a Hindu woman and a Muslim man, calling it 'fasid' or irregular, but where the children are legitimate and have a share in their father's property.
The image in the viral posts shows a headline which states, "हिंदू महिला और मुस्लिम पुरुष की शादी अवैध: सुप्रीम कोर्ट". BOOM received the claim on its WhatsApp helpline (7700906588). The content of the story except the headline has been blurred in the viral posts.
An additional line over the snapshot says that Hindu girls should make not of this development.
The claims can be seen below.
The claim is viral in the context of 'Love Jihad', a derogatory term used by the supporters of right wing to refer to the marriage between a Muslim man and a Hindu woman.
FactCheck
BOOM was able to ascertain that the article is from from the Amar Ujala; We ran a keyword search and found that the article was uploaded on the outlet's site on January 23, 2019. The article reports on a court case between an individual, Shamsuddin, who wanted his share in his interfaith parents' property. The case took place in 2019.
The link can be found here.
What was the case about?
Shamsuddin, who was the son of a Hindu woman Valiamma and a Muslim father, Mohammed Ilias, was fighting for a share of his father's property.
Other claimants to the property cited the religion of their parents stating that Shamsuddin's mother had not converted to Islam at the time of the marriage, making their marriage invalid and therefore their child (Shamsuddin) had no claim to their property.
What did the Supreme Court rule?
The Supreme Court said that the marriage between a Muslim male and a Hindu female is 'fasid' or "irregular", deeming it to be neither 'sahih' or "valid" or 'batil' or void.
This position has further been reiterated by courts in India before, the Supreme Court said.
"It would not be out of place to emphasise at this juncture that since Hindus are idol worshippers, which includes worship of physical images/statues through offering of flowers, adornment, etc., it is clear that the marriage of a Hindu female with a Muslim male is not a regular or valid (sahih) marriage, but merely an irregular (fasid) marriage", a bench of Justice N V Ramana and Mohan M Shantanagoudar ruled.
The judgement that says this can be found here with India Kanoon. Nothing imposes a blanket ban on marriages between Hindu women and Muslim men, or voids existing ones.
The Supreme Court ruled that the children born out of such marriages were legitimate and that Shamsuddin had a claim to his father's property.
"Any child born out of such wedlock (fasid marriage) is entitled to claim a share in his father's property", it said.
Further, BOOM did not find any report on the marriages between Hindu women and Muslim men being banned or declared void.
Reporting from ThePrint can be found here. Reporting from the Times of India can be found here.
The Indian Express' report can be found here.
Also Read: Can Maharashtra's Panel To Track Interfaith Marriages Really Help Women?