Kerala High Court: In a case before the Court where the petitioner, an Indian Citizen, was prohibited from marrying a Canadian Citizen on the ground that the provisions of Special Marriage Act, 1954 cannot be invoked in the instant case as one of the party to the marriage is a foreigner, a bench of K.V. Chandran J directed the 3rd respondent (Marriage Officer) to accept the application of the petitioner and permit her to contract the marriage as intended by her, as the Special Marriage Act, 1954 does not bar the solemnization of marriage between an Indian and a foreigner.
The Court read Section 4 of the Special Marriage Act and observed that solemnization of the marriage between “any two persons” could not be prohibited in the present case as the petitioner satisfies the conditions stated in sub-clauses (a) to (d) of the said provision. The Court noted that the word “person” used in Section 4 of the Act does not indicate that either one of the parties or both the parties should be citizens of