India shelters many religions and cultures. They reside together in peace and harmony. Freedom is offered to get married to a person belonging to any religion, caste and creed. India is governed by different laws for marriage and divorce and some special marriage acts as well. These marriage acts are guidelines that need to be followed to make a marriage legal.

These guidelines includes eligibility for marriage, proper information regarding any documentation procedures and assistance to sort out disputes in any marriage. The special marriage act passed in 1954 gave provisions for marriage under special conditions.

In India, a religious marriage ceremony is considered a legal marriage. Marriage registration is a must these days in India. Every religion has its own marriage law. There are different marriage laws in India like the Hindu marriage act, Christian marriage act, Muslim marriage act and so on. Hindus have their marriage law which describes the dos and don’ts for the marriage. Similarly some laws have been defined for Muslims and Christians as well.

The Hindu marriage act came into existence in 1955. It states the that the eligibility for a boy to get married is 21 and that for a girl it is 18 whereas the Muslim act states that a marriage is a contract and maybe permanent or temporary. It allows the practice of polygamy. Similarly, the Christians and the Parsees also follow certain marriage laws.

Marriage acts are necessary to legally approve a marriage. Hence they hold a great importance in the Indian society.