Kerala High Court Allows Additional Entry Of Changed Name In Marriage Register After Wife's Religious Conversion

While dealing with an inter-religious marriage under the Special Marriage Act, the Kerala High Court has held that if a spouse wishes to convert their religion, an additional entry can be incorporated in the marriage register to record his/her new name.Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan thus directed the Registrar of Marriages, Panchayat Secretary concerned and other authorities to incorporate an additional entry in the marriage register and to issue a new marriage certificate with the wife's new name in this case, after her conversion from Hinduism to Islam.The plea was preferred by Aayisha Muhsin whose previous name was Sreeja S. She and her husband had solemnized their marriage in 2017 as per the Special Marriage Act, 1954 since they belonged to different religions.Later, the petitioner decided to adopt her husband's Islamic faith and decided to change her name, around 6 years after the marriage. A gazette notification was made and her name was changed in all documents and identity cards.In a decision to apply for a family visa to join her husband in the UAE, the petitioner registered their marriage under the Kerala Registration of Marriage (Common) Rules, 2008. Since the name of the petitioner was shown as 'Sreeja' instead of 'Aayisha Muhsin', she wanted to make a correction in the marriage certificate. However, the Panchayat Secretary informed her that this was not possible. The state government's clarification stating that major changes cannot be made to marriage certificates was relied on.Aggrieved, the present plea was preferred.The Court perused Rule 13 of the 2008 Rules which pertains to correction and cancellation of entries in registers. It remarked:“Under the above rule, it is clear that major changes to an entry already made in a marriage register are not permitted. If any entry in the Register of Marriages (Common) is erroneous in form or substance or has been fraudulently or improperly made, subject to conditions in sub-rule (2), suitable corrections including cancellation of registration, noting the evidence for such corrections in the margin of the Register of Marriages (Common), without any alteration of the original entry alone is possible.”The Court agreed that the change in the petitioner's name was a major one but not due to anything entered erroneously in form or substance, or to anything fraudulently or improperly made. Therefore, it held that such a correction cannot be carried out.Next, the Court looked into whether extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution needs to be invoked to order correction. As per the Court's direction, the parents of the petitioner were also impleaded as additional respondents, who submitted that the change in name was as per the petitioner's own free will.Relying on the precedents of the Kerala and Punjab High Courts, the Court remarked that extraordinary jurisdiction can be invoked in the present case. It thus allowed the plea and directed the respondents to issue a new marriage certificate and to make an additional entry in the marriage register with the new name.Case No: W.P.(C) No.38145 of 2025Case Title: Aayisha Muhsin v. Principal Secretary and Ors.Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 17Counsel for the petitioner: S.Vinod Bhat, Anagha Lakshmy Raman, V. Namitha, Gitanjali Sadan PillaiCounsel for the respondents: R. Rajpradeep, Prasudha S., Sreedevi S., P. Jeril Babu,Riyal Devassy – Government PleaderClick to Read/Download Judgment

Kerala High Court Allows Additional Entry Of Changed Name In Marriage Register After Wife's Religious Conversion

K. Salma Jennath

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