Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936

The Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936 sets out the rules for marriage, divorce, and related court proceedings specifically for members of the Parsi (Zoroastrian) community in Pakistan. Section 3 says a marriage is not valid if the couple are too closely related under the prohibited-relationship table in Schedule I, if it was not performed according to the traditional Parsi "Ashirvad" ceremony by a priest in front of two Parsi witnesses, or if either party is under 21 and married without their father's or guardian's consent. Section 4 bars remarrying while still legally married to someone else, making any such second marriage void, and Section 5 says doing so is punishable as bigamy under the Pakistan Penal Code.

Sections 6 to 10 require every marriage to be certified by the officiating priest on a form set out in Schedule II, registered with a court-appointed Registrar (for a small fee), and kept open to public inspection; divorces, annulments, and judicial separations must likewise be registered by the deciding court. Sections 11 to 16 attach penalties to priests and others who fail in these registration duties - for example, a priest who knowingly solemnizes a marriage in breach of Section 4 faces imprisonment up to six months or a fine up to two hundred rupees, and neglecting the certification requirements of Section 6 can mean up to three months' imprisonment or a fine up to one hundred rupees.

Part III sets up special Parsi Matrimonial Courts, with delegates who assist the Court treated as public servants. Part IV, Sections 30 to 48, covers the actual matrimonial cases these courts can hear: suits for nullity, dissolution of marriage, the specific grounds on which divorce can be granted, judicial separation, restitution of conjugal rights, and both temporary ("pendente lite") and permanent alimony. Section 38 blocks lawsuits to enforce a marriage or related contract where the husband was under sixteen or the wife under fourteen at the time. Part V deals with custody of children and setting aside a wife's property for their benefit, and appeals from these courts go to the High Court under Section 47.

This is an old law from 1936, with clear amendment history (for instance, the 1960 Central Laws Statute Reform Ordinance and the 1975 Federal Adaptation Order), and the penalty and fee amounts stated - a few hundred rupees, two-rupee registration fees - are historical figures that plainly have not kept pace with time; readers should treat them as illustrative of the mechanism rather than current enforceable amounts, and check the present-day text for anything that matters in practice.