An advocate based in Tamil Nadu may have to face the music for aiding the conduct of an underage marriage, after his misconduct was taken note of by the Madras High Court..The incident came to light when a habeas corpus petition was filed by the bride’s parents before the Court. As per the parents, the 19-year old daughter had expressed her desire to get married to a boy. However, her parents advised her against the same..Regardless, the couple managed to go ahead with their marriage. When the case was brought before the Court, the petitioners/parents of girl informed the Court that boy had not crossed the legal age to get married. The petitioners submitted records of SA Polytechnic College, in which the boy had studied a course, to show that he had been born in 1997..This contradicted the school records produced by couple before the Court, which had indicated his year of birth to be 1995. When examined in Court, however, the couple eventually accepted that these records were false..The Bench of Justices CT Selvam and N Sathish Kumar was perturbed by the manner in which documents were forged and accepted without question to solemnise the illegal marriage. It was found that a lawyer, E Lenin, was responsible for arranging the same..The Court made sure to direct the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to initiate appropriate proceedings against the lawyer. The Bench also expressed its anguish in the denigration of the legal profession in this manner. The order notes,.“They finally informed us that the entire arrangements towards the marriage had been made by their Advocate, namely, Mr.E.Lenin…A perusal of the entire documents produced before us would show that the same have been prepared by the Advocate and manipulated as if [the boy] is a major and got the marriage registered. .We were pained to note this. Legal profession is not mentioned for conducting marriages..Hence, we consider it appropriate to refer the matter to the BAR COUNCIL OF TAMIL NADU AND PUDUCHERRY for appropriate action. Registry is directed to forward the entire set of papers pertaining to the above Habeas Corpus Petition. Copies of the Certificates produced before us, shall be forwarded to such Body.”.Action was also directed to be initiated against the concerned Sub-Registrar, who had carelessly solemnised the marriage.
An advocate based in Tamil Nadu may have to face the music for aiding the conduct of an underage marriage, after his misconduct was taken note of by the Madras High Court..The incident came to light when a habeas corpus petition was filed by the bride’s parents before the Court. As per the parents, the 19-year old daughter had expressed her desire to get married to a boy. However, her parents advised her against the same..Regardless, the couple managed to go ahead with their marriage. When the case was brought before the Court, the petitioners/parents of girl informed the Court that boy had not crossed the legal age to get married. The petitioners submitted records of SA Polytechnic College, in which the boy had studied a course, to show that he had been born in 1997..This contradicted the school records produced by couple before the Court, which had indicated his year of birth to be 1995. When examined in Court, however, the couple eventually accepted that these records were false..The Bench of Justices CT Selvam and N Sathish Kumar was perturbed by the manner in which documents were forged and accepted without question to solemnise the illegal marriage. It was found that a lawyer, E Lenin, was responsible for arranging the same..The Court made sure to direct the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to initiate appropriate proceedings against the lawyer. The Bench also expressed its anguish in the denigration of the legal profession in this manner. The order notes,.“They finally informed us that the entire arrangements towards the marriage had been made by their Advocate, namely, Mr.E.Lenin…A perusal of the entire documents produced before us would show that the same have been prepared by the Advocate and manipulated as if [the boy] is a major and got the marriage registered. .We were pained to note this. Legal profession is not mentioned for conducting marriages..Hence, we consider it appropriate to refer the matter to the BAR COUNCIL OF TAMIL NADU AND PUDUCHERRY for appropriate action. Registry is directed to forward the entire set of papers pertaining to the above Habeas Corpus Petition. Copies of the Certificates produced before us, shall be forwarded to such Body.”.Action was also directed to be initiated against the concerned Sub-Registrar, who had carelessly solemnised the marriage.