1174 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Shri Sondhi : In what year was that ?
Dr. Ambedkar : 1947.
Shri Sondhi : Before the partiton ?
Dr. Ambedkar : No. After the partition, because the letter has been issued to the East Punjab Government. I will give the substance of the letter from the Home Secretary to the Government of East Punjab to the Secretary to the Government of India, Legislative Department, New Delhi, No. 211, dated the 3rd October 1947. In that the following statement is made:
“I am directed to forward a copy of the letter so and so from the Registerar of the High Court of Judicature, Lahore, reporting the views of the Hon. Judges, etc. The Punjab Government also invited the views of the Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners, the High Court Bar Association, and five divisional headquarters, as well as of the nine selected non-official organisations believed to be representative of the Hindu and Sikh opinion. Only one of the latter Shri Sanathan Dharma Prathinidhi, Lahore, replied.”
I do not think in the face of this my hon. friend can say that no attempt was made to canvass the opinion of the Sikh community. My Hon. friend also said that of the seven members consulted six opposed it. He may be knowing something more about it. I am however entitled to say that before my Hon. friend made his speech, I had one or two conversations with him. He told me that he was particular about the Anand marriage, or the customary ceremony and I told him that although we were passing this Bill, we are not abrogating the Anand Marriage Act which has been passed by the Assembly in order to regularise certain ceremonies which the Sikhs perform for the soleminisation of their marriage and I thought that he was perfectly satisfied with that. But it may be that some other reason has come to the surface which has made him to give rise to these hidden feelings which oherwise might have remained locked up in his breast.
My. hon. Friend read out a judgement of Dr. Bakshi Tek Chand— it is reported in 10 Lahore. Kabul Singh’s case. I have examined the facts of this case and the rationale of the case. The only point of dispute was whether a marriage between a Jat Sikh and a Mazhabi woman was a legal marriage or not. It was contended on the other side that it was not a legal marriage because the Jat belonged to a superior class and the woman belonged to an inferior class and inter-caste marriages were not allowed. Mr. Justice Tek Chand held that the Jats were sudras and the rule that applied to thraivarani did not apply to sudras and the untouchables are treated by Shastras as sudras. It is a marriage between sudras. Therefore, it is valid.