The Hindu Marriage, Muslim Marriage, Christian Marriage and Special Marriage provisions as applicable in India are briefed hereunder :
Hindu Marriage
Any person who is a Hindu including follower of Lingayat, Brahmo, Arya Samaj Buddhist, Jain or Sikh by religion or other person domiciled in the Territories who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew by religion can marry under the Hindu Marriage Act, provided the minimum age the bridegroom has to complete 21 years of age and the bride 18 years of age and both are unmarried at the time of marriage. The consent of parents is not necessary for a legally valid marriage. It is the consent of the marrying parties that is necessary and such consent should be free and voluntary. The performance of marriage ceremonies is a necessary component for proving the validity of a marriage, therefore, it is advised to every party to a marriage to keep photos or videos recording of such essential ceremonies, documentary evidence like wedding cards, bookings of weddings halls etc. for future reference.
Persons of different caste but if both are Hindu can marry under the Hindu Marriage Act and no specific requirements are required to be fulfilled if
the marriage is an inter-caste marriage.
Muslim Marriage
Under Muslim Law the marrying parties must have the capacity to marry i.e. they should be of sound mind and has attained puberty, may enter into a contract of marriage. A person is presumed to have attained the age of puberty on the completion of 15 years of age. There must be a clear proposal and acceptance which must be made in the presence of two male Muslims who are of sound mind and have attained puberty or one male and two female witnesses who are sane, adult and Muslim. The proposal and acceptance need not be made in writing. Where the offer and acceptance are reduced into writing, the document is called ‘Nikah Nama. The free consent of marrying parties is compulsory otherwise marriage will be void. Under Muslim law, a woman cannot marry second time so long as the first marriage subsists and the husband is alive. However a Muslim man can marry more than one wife with a restriction of maximum four wives and he will not be punished for bigamy. A muslim man can marry just after divorce but a muslim woman has to wait for the iddat period of 3 months/ 3 menstrual cycles before re-marrying. Further , if she is pregnant, then she needs to wait till the full term of the pregnancy.
Christian Marriage
The marriage between persons, one or both of whom is or are a Christian or Christians, can be solemnized in accordance with the provisions of this Act. The parties to the marriage must be Christian .The age of the man intending to be married shall not be less than twenty one years , and the age of the woman intending to be married shall not be under eighteen years and both the parties should be unmarried at the time of marriage. Two witnesses are required to be present in the presence of a person licensed to conduct the marriage. If all these conditions are fulfilled then the parties shall be given Marriage Certificate which can subsequently be used to prove the validity of the marriage.
Special Marriage
Under The provisions of this Act the bride and groom belong to two different religions can solemnize their marriage under the Special Marriages Act.
However people of same religion may also wish to marry under Special Marriage Act. According to Act, a marriage between any two persons may be solemnized provided boy has to complete 21 years of age and the girl 18 years of age and both are unmarried at the time of marriage. They are agreed to marry with their own consent freely and voluntarily.
DISCLAIMER: The above is just brief introduction of provisions of Marriage Laws.For details knowledge and information , kindly refer complete Act / provisions.