1100 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
question is about marriages which are presumed to be valid even when there are no ceremonies nor rituals but a prohibition is sought to be introduced in that regard here. In the Punjab people do marry cousins.
Mr. Deputy Speaker: This does not abrogate the provisions of the Evidence Act and this is not inconsistent with that clause of the Act, namely that a man and woman living together was sufficient proof of marriage.
Sardar B. S. Man : After the promulgation of this law, doubts will be expressed by the courts about the validity of such marriges and the only relief given is that the marriage shall be registered. If the Law Minister says that even such marriages, which were not performed strictly but by virtue of the parties living together for a long period and their mutual conduct, they will be considered as husband and wife and will not be forced to go to a registrar to register their marriage, then my apprehensions will be removed.
Shri Tyagi: Both the parties must be willing.
Sardar B. S. Man : Of course, you must have a willing wife and husband. (Interruption ) My friend Prof. Yashwant Rai asks whether such cases are very common among the Jat sikhs. They are common among them along with the Scheduled Castes and specially his own particular caste in the Punjab.
The idea of the present Bill is codification. Codification presupposes the existence of certain laws. If we are honest and want to proceed with the codification, the existing laws should be included there. But this codification under the present Bill is not only a codification of existing laws but so far as the Sikhs and the agriculturists of the Punjab are concerned it is an exclusion of their laws ( An Hon. Member: Modification) or modification to such an extent that the original is completely lost that it is altogether alien and in many respects obnoxious to us and is thrust down our throats.
Voltaire said :
“ That the more vast a State is in size and composed of different peoples, the more difficult it becomes to unite all together by one and the same jurisprudence.”
Only two days ago, the Prime Minister replying to a question why there was no national dress in India said that in a vast
11 A.M. country which stretches from the borders of Central Asia to Kanya Kumari in the south, different people are used to different customs