15 Kolkata Couples to Remarry Due to Errors in Marriage Certificates

Kolkata: Around 15 couples in Kolkata and its outskirts will have to “remarry” as their marriage registration certificates have errors that cannot be rectified. These couples got married during the COVID lockdown.

The errors in their marriage certificates are so grave that they may face legal problems if they don’t get their marriages annulled and get married again.

The Bengal marriage registrar’s office has found discrepancies in more than 8,000 wedding certificates issued during the pandemic. Out of them, at least 15 cannot be rectified. These 15 couples have been asked to get fresh marriage certificates.

These 15 marriage certificates are legally questionable. For example, in some, the names of witnesses are mentioned as ‘ABC’. In others, the addresses of the witnesses are missing or the telephone numbers provided are non-existent. Prima facie, it appears that the marriage registrars who uploaded these personal data had erred.

Since June 1, 2019, marriage records in Bengal are being digitized. When the migration was taking place, the state was also training the registrars on the use of the online portal. But the pandemic disrupted the process and this could have led to some registrars making errors.