Knanaya Church cannot oust people for marrying outside community: Kerala court

By LE Desk

Kochi, May 27: In a significant judgement, a Kerala court recently ruled against the Knanaya Catholic Church’s practice of ousting members for marrying outside their community. 

The practise followed by the Knanaya Catholic Church of the Archeparchy of Kottayam, was termed a violation of the fundamental right to marry (under Article 21) and the right to religion (under Article 24) as written in the Indian Constitution, the Additional Sub Court of Kottayam said, as reported by The News Minute.

The Knanaya Catholic Church upholds the practice of endogamy, and followers have been known to be ousted from the community if they marry outside of it, even followers of other Catholic Christian churches. This was challenged by Knanaya Catholic Naveekarana Samithy, who are a group of reformists, along with people who have faced similar expulsion. 

The petitioners had, in their plea, asked to stop the practise of ousting Knanaya followers for marrying people belonging to other Catholic Churches. Members of the Knanaya community consider themselves to be descendants of Jews who migrated to Kerala. As per the church, they uphold endogamy or practise of marrying from within the same community, to continue the community’s “pure lineage”.

In the judgement passed on April 30, Sudheesh Kumar S, Additional Sub Judge of Kottayam, restrained the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Archeparchy of Kottayam and the Major Archbishop of the Syro Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church (under which the former belongs), from terminating the membership of any member of the Archeparchy of Kottayam for marrying a Catholic from any other Diocese. 

The court also ordered the church to readmit all those who were expelled by the church, their spouses and children, “if they qualify other respects on receipt of proper application”, The News Minute said.

https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/knanaya-church-cannot-oust-people-marrying-outside-community-kerala-court-149609