Lucknow, Jan 14 (TIWN) In a landmark judgment, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has ruled that the 30 days' notice to a marriage officer to register a wedding under the Special Marriage Act, 1954, should be optional rather than mandatory.

The court said that enforcing a notice period on the couple is tantamount to intruding on their fundamental right to privacy and liberty.  "If the couple does not want to go for publication of the 30-day notice, the marriage officer has to solemnise their wedding forthwith," said Justice Vivek Chaudhary while disposing of a habeas corpus petition filed by a Hindu man married to a woman who was born Muslim but converted before the wedding.