Har­jin­der Singh Kukreja does it again. Known for his flam­boy­ant style in mak­ing unique ef­forts to up­hold Sikh iden­tity, he, along with his wife Harki­rat Kaur Kukreja has set a trend in push­ing for the reg­is­tra­tion of their mar­riage un­der the Anand Mar­riage Act. Nav­i­gat­ing through the process which was made eas­ier by the Pun­jab gov­ern­ment, the me­dia-savvy travel in­flu­encer cou­ple has ob­tained their cer­tifi­cate un­der the Anand Mar­riage Act and are now on a mis­sion to make this hap­pen for other cou­ples, in Pun­jab and else­where, ac­knowl­edg­ing that there very lit­tle aware­ness.  WSN ed­i­tor Jag­mo­han Singh speaks to Har­jin­der Singh Kukreja to piece to­gether his jour­ney in get­ting his mar­riage cer­ti­fi­ca­tion and the road ahead.

HAR­JIN­DER SINGH KUKREJA was keen to get his mar­riage reg­is­tered un­der the Anand Mar­riage Act, even be­fore his mar­riage. To­day, with three beau­ti­ful school-go­ing kids in tow, hold­ing his Anand Mar­riage cer­tifi­cate in hand, he sees it as a mo­men­tous oc­ca­sion, a tes­ta­ment to the dis­tinc­tive­ness of the Sikh faith, and a re­flec­tion of the Sikh com­mu­ni­ty’s long strug­gle for le­gal ac­knowl­edg­ment of their mat­ri­mo­nial tra­di­tions against os­tra­ciza­tion, seg­re­ga­tion and as­sim­i­la­tion.

“I feel lib­er­ated. Ini­tially, as hav­ing my wed­ding reg­is­tered un­der the Hindu Mar­riage Act left me feel­ing un­set­tled. I found my­self won­der­ing how my mar­riage could be aligned with a law that did­n’t re­flect my re­li­gious be­liefs. The wait has been worth it. I feel that though it has come far too late in the day for the Sikhs, this cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is an en­dorse­ment and asser­tion of Sikh iden­tity,” said Har­jin­der Singh Kukreja while speak­ing to The World Sikh News

“My de­ci­sion to tran­si­tion from the Hindu Mar­riage Act to the Anand Mar­riage Act is a pro­found af­fir­ma­tion of my faith. How could I turn my back to the glo­ri­ous Sikh mar­riage tra­di­tion of the Fourth Sov­er­eign -Guru Amar­dass Ji?”

My de­ci­sion to tran­si­tion from the Hindu Mar­riage Act to the Anand Mar­riage Act is a pro­found af­fir­ma­tion of my faith.

Har­jin­der Singh Kukreja

Har­jin­der Singh and Harki­rat Kaur Kukreja have in­deed set a ster­ling ex­am­ple by em­brac­ing their rights un­der the Anand Mar­riage Act—a long-over­due recog­ni­tion for the Sikh com­mu­nity. This re­mark­able step re­flects not only their com­mit­ment to their faith but also sig­ni­fies a col­lec­tive awak­en­ing within the com­mu­nity, ig­nit­ing a hope that the fu­ture will hold more such af­fir­ma­tions of Sikh iden­tity.

Speak­ing to WSN, Har­jin­der Singh Kukreja said, “The saga of the Anand Mar­riage Ac­t’s en­act­ment and im­ple­men­ta­tion has been a check­ered one. The Anand Mar­riage Act was passed in 1909. It was amended, af­ter more than a cen­tury in 2012, and only in 2016 were rules framed for reg­is­tra­tion un­der the amended law.  My cer­tifi­cate un­der the Anand Mar­riage Act sym­bol­izes a hard-won vic­tory—a nar­ra­tive of re­silience and iden­tity re­ten­tion within the Sikh com­mu­nity.”

A com­mu­nity that wanted the Anand Mar­riage Act im­ple­mented post-haste has been rather lax in the ac­tual process of ob­tain­ing the cer­tifi­cates.  There is lit­tle aware­ness about the ex­is­tence of such pro­vi­sions amongst the ben­e­fi­cia­ries, lawyers, and the bu­reau­cracy.

So far only twenty-two states, in­clud­ing Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Ker­ala, Ra­jasthan, and Delhi, have im­ple­mented the Act, but it has not been in right earnest de­spite the no­ti­fi­ca­tion is­sued eight years ago. There are many that have not yet no­ti­fied the mar­riage reg­is­tra­tion process. In some where no­ti­fi­ca­tions have been done, the process of in­cor­po­rat­ing the sys­tem of Anand Mar­riage reg­is­tra­tion into the gov­ern­men­t’s com­put­ers has not taken place.  In fact, in some states, the ad­min­is­tra­tive staff dis­suades Sikh cou­ples from tak­ing such a cer­tifi­cate only be­cause of their lethargy to open a new sys­tem of reg­is­tra­tion.

Just a few months back, a lawyer cou­ple from Ma­ha­rash­tra had to knock the doors of the Bom­bay High Court to force the gov­ern­ment of Ma­ha­rash­tra to start the is­suance of Anand Mar­riage Cer­tifi­cates un­der the Anand Mar­riage Act.

The ac­tions taken by Har­jin­der and Harki­rat Kukreja are not just rooted in per­sonal be­lief but are a pow­er­ful state­ment on be­half of Sikhs every­where. Their ini­tia­tive is a clar­ion call to their peers, re­mind­ing them of their rights and the im­por­tance of reg­is­ter­ing Sikh mar­riages un­der the ap­pro­pri­ate le­gal frame­work.

Speak­ing to World Sikh News, Harki­rat Kaur Kukreja said, “This is­n’t just about us; it’s about set­ting a prece­dent. If our ac­tions can in­spire other Sikh cou­ples to em­brace their le­gal rights un­der the Anand Mar­riage Act, we con­sider it a vic­tory for our com­mu­nity.”

This is­n’t just about us; it’s about set­ting a prece­dent. If our ac­tions can in­spire other Sikh cou­ples to em­brace their le­gal rights un­der the Anand Mar­riage Act, we con­sider it a vic­tory for our com­mu­nity.

Harki­rat Kaur Kukreja

The ini­tia­tive of Har­jin­der Singh Kukreja calls for re­flec­tion, not only on the Sikh com­mu­ni­ty’s cen­tury-long quest for iden­tity af­fir­ma­tion but also on the on­go­ing jour­ney to­ward so­cial jus­tice and recog­ni­tion in the world’s largest democ­racy.

This strong af­fir­ma­tion of iden­tity, built on decades of ad­vo­cacy, along­side the recog­ni­tion of stead­fast Sikh mat­ri­mo­nial tra­di­tions through time, de­serves to be em­braced by every­one.

This re­sound­ing af­fir­ma­tion of iden­tity, a ta­pes­try wo­ven through decades of ad­vo­cacy, and a recog­ni­tion of the Sikh mat­ri­mo­nial tra­di­tions that have re­mained stead­fast through the an­nals of time needs em­u­la­tion by one and all.