While condemning the prolonged delay in the passage of the Hindu Marriage Registration Act, Scheduled caste Hindus on Thursday gathered to protest against the consequential social discrimination they are bound to face in the absence of a law to protect their matrimonial rights.
The Scheduled Caste Rights Movement (SCRM), in collaboration with Action Aid held a protest demonstration in front of the Parliament.
Initially, nearly 200 people, including members of the Hindu community and civil rights activists held a mock marriage ceremony in front of the National Press Club to depict the ineffectiveness of marriage when it is not registered with the government.
Scheduled caste women said the absence of a marriage registration law entailed multiple social issues for them, including abduction, forced conversion and the inability to benefit from any government scheme.
Shakuntala Devi, a protestor from Multan, said: “It has been four years that we have been struggling for our rights. In 2011, a bill was presented in the National Assembly for the legislation of a law to register Hindu marriages but so far there has been no reported progress.
“Hindu women are being constantly victimised as in absence of a marriage law, they remain deprived of basic social, political and economic rights.”
Reema Mai from Rahim Yar Khan said: “Since the last 60 years, Hindu women are being discriminated against. Hindu girls and even married women are abducted and later re-married to non-Hindus and it all goes unnoticed because there is no law to protect us.
“We feel very insecure and our elders marry us at a very early age. Getting the National Identity Card is a challenging task. We have to bribe the NADRA staff for getting the NIC. We cannot stay in a hotel because of our inability to produce marriage registration certificate.”
SCRM President Guru Sukh Dev said: “In 2008, the scheduled caste Hindus realised the need for a collective platform. The SCRM is now a social movement with many successes to its credit. However, we still face many challenges to make our voices heard.
“The SCRM lobbied with many parliamentarians and introduced a marriage registration bill in the Parliament which is still pending. It has been more than 60 years that any law to protect Hindus was discussed in the Parliament.
We demand the early passage of the Hindu marriage registration law so that it could end out insecurities.”
