The Hindu : International : U.K. law against "sham'' marriages struck down

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 12, 2006

International

International

U.K. law against "sham'' marriages struck down

Hasan Suroor

High Court says the legislation is incompatible with human rights law

LONDON: A law to ban sham marriages by immigrants to legalise their stay in Britain has been struck down by the High Court on grounds that it is discriminatory and breaches human rights.

The law, introduced in February 2005, obliged people born outside the European Union and who had only a six-month visa to seek special permission from the Home Office to marry even if their partner was a British or an E.U. national.

Campaigners oppose

Rights campaigners had opposed it saying that it did not make a distinction between genuine and sham marriages and sought to tar all non-E.U. nationals who applied for marriage as potential fraudsters.

The law was challenged when one foreigner was refused permission to marry a woman from within the "European Economic Area'' who had been living legally in Britain.

The court ruled that it was incompatible with human rights law as it did not apply to those who wanted to marry within the Church of England. This amounted to discriminating against people of other faiths, including Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism. It was not persuaded by the argument put forward by the Home Office that the exemption for the Church of England was valid because there was no evidence of any sham marriage rackets involving Anglican ceremonies.

Amit Sachdev, solicitor for one of the claimants, said: "This Act was a knee-jerk reaction based on speculation rather than evidence.

The House of Lords complained that the Act had not received proper scrutiny. By this judgment, their concerns have proved correct. A vast majority of British and European citizens [caught up by the rules] have been complaining that this law brought pain, suffering, humiliation and misery to them."

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