Context: The featuring of an interfaith couple in an advertisement aired by the Tata-owned Tanishq led to accusation of it promoting love jihad. Tanishq finally withdrew the advertisement fearing a larger impact on the brands.
Key findings of a 2013 study about interfaith marriages in India

• Central Government-run International Institute for Population Sciences had presented a paper on interfaith marriages in India in 2013 by analysing data from the “India Human Development Survey (IHDS) data, 2005.”
• The study suggests that 2.21 % of all married women between the age of 15-49 had married outside their religion.
• The proportion of inter-religious marriages is highest at 2.8 % among the women of the young age group (15-19) than other age groups which decrease with increasing age at marriage with 2.3 % for those in the age group 20-24, 2 % for 25-29 and 1.9 % for those above 30.
• Interreligious marriages are greater among the women living in urban areas at 2.9 % compared to 1.8 % for rural areas.

Scenario in religious groups

• The prevalence of women marrying outside their faith is the highest amongst Christians with 3.5 % of women having mixed marriages.
• Sikhs come second at 3.2 %, Hindu’s 1.5 % and Muslims 0.6 %.

States Scenario

• Punjab has the highest mixed marriages at 7.8 %. Jharkhand at 5.7 % and Andhra Pradesh at 4.9 % also have a high proportion of mixed marriages.
• The lowest percentage of mixed marriages are in Bengal at 0.3 %, Chhattisgarh 0.6 % and Rajasthan 0.7 %.

About Indian Human Development Survey

• The India Human Development Survey 2005 (IHDS) is a nationally representative, multi-topic survey of 41,554 households in 1503 villages and 971 urban neighborhoods across India.
• It was jointly organised by researchers from the University of Maryland and the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi.
• Funding for the survey was provided by the National Institutes of Health.
• The prevalence of women marrying outside their faith is the highest amongst Christians with 3.5 per cent of women having mixed marriages.
• Sikhs come second at 3.2 per cent, Hindu’s 1.5 per cent and Muslims 0.6 per cent.
• The data, however, does not show the religion which the women are marrying into.
• Punjab has the highest mixed marriages at 7.8 per cent. This high number is attributed to the somewhat similar religious customs and practices followed by Sikhism and Hinduism.
• Jharkhand at 5.7 per cent and Andhra Pradesh at 4.9 per cent also have a high proportion of mixed marriages.
• The lowest percentage of mixed marriages are in Bengal at 0.3 per cent, Chattisgarh 0.6 per cent and Rajasthan 0.7 per cent.

Special Marriage Act 1954

• The Special Marriage Act (SMA) was enacted in 1954 as part of a series of reforms to personal laws in India that Jawaharlal Nehru had made a priority.
• The SMA was meant to be a legislation to govern marriages that could not be solemnised according to religious customs – which essentially meant inter-faith or inter-caste marriages.
• Anybody can get married under the SMA without giving up their religion, and there are proper provisions for divorce (including by mutual consent), custody of children, and alimony.
• The SMA applies to the whole of India except Jammu & Kashmir.
• Citizens of India residing in Jammu & Kashmir but from another State/UT can also get married in accordance with the SMA.
• The language of the core provisions of the SMA is gender-neutral (“any two persons”, “the parties”), which means it could textually apply to same-sex marriages.