Act III. of 1872 or the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872, and of certain marriages registered under the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1865, and for the establishment of general registry offices for keeping 'registers of those births, deaths and marriages; And whereas it is also expedient to provide for the authentication and custody of certain existing registers made otherwise than in the performance of a duty specially enjoined by the law of the country in which the registers were kept, and to declare that copies of the entries in those registers shall be admissible in evidence; It is hereby enacted as follows: Short title and commencement. CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY. 1. (1) This Act may be called the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1886; and (2) It shall come into force on such day (a) as the Governor General in Council, by notification in the Gazette of India, directs. (3) Any power conferred by this Act to make rules or to issue orders XT1/910201). 'may be exercised at any time after the passing of this Act; but a rule or osch I PT. order so made or issued shall not take effect until the Act comes into force. 2. This Act extends to the whole of British India, and applies also, Local extent. subjects in those dominions. Definitions. within the dominions of Princes and States in India in alliance with Her Majesty, to British 3. In this Act, unless there is something repugnant in the subject or context, "sign" includes mark, when the person making the mark is unable to write his name: "prescribed" means prescribed by a rule made by the Governor General in Council under this Act: and "Registrar of Births and Deaths" means a Registrar of Births and Deaths appointed under this Act. 4. Nothing in this Act, or in any rule made under this Act, shall affect Saving of local laws. within particular local areas. Powers exerciseable from time to time. any law heretofore or hereafter passed providing for the registration of births and deaths 5. All powers conferred by this Act may be exercised from time to time as occasion requires. S. 1 (2) (a).—The 1st October, 1888, is the day so directed. G. G. 1888, p. 622. CHAPTER II. GENERAL REGISTRY OFFICES OF BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES. Establishment of general registry offices and appointment of Registrars General. 6. (1) Each Local Government (a) shall establish a general registry office for keeping such certified (2) Provided that the Governor of Bombay in Council may, with the previous sanction of the Governor General in Council, establish two general registry offices and appoint two Registrars General of Births, Deaths and Marriages for the territories under his administration; one of such general registry offices and of such Registrars General being established and appointed for Sindh and the other for the other territories under the administration of the Governor of Bombay in Council. Indexes to be kept at general registry office. 7. Each Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages shall cause indexes of all the certified copies of registers sent to his office under this Act, or under Act III. of 1872, the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872, or the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1865, as amended by this Act, to be made and kept in his office in the prescribed form. Indexes to be open to inspec tion. 8. Subject to the payment of the prescribed fees, the indexes so made shall be at all reasonable times open to inspection by any person applying to inspect them, and copies of entries in the certified copies of the registers to which the indexes relate shall be given to all persons applying for them. 9. A copy of an entry Copies of entries to be admissible in evidence. given under the last foregoing section shall be certified by the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, or by an officer authorized in this behalf by the Local Government, S. 6, cl. (b).—1he Inspector General of Registration and Stamps, Bombay, is the officer appointed under this clause for the territories under the administration of the Government of Bombay. G. G. 1888, p. 771. and shall be admissible in evidence for the purpose of proving the birth, death or marriage to which the entry relates. 10. Each Registrar Superintendence of Registrars by Registrar General. General of Births, Deaths and Marriages shall exercise a general superintendence over the Registrars of Births and Deaths in the territories for which he is appointed. Persons whose deaths are registrable. CHAPTER III. REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS. A.-Application of this Chapter. births and 11. (1) The persons whose births and deaths shall, in the first instance, be registrable under this chapter are the following, namely:(a) in British India, the members of every race, sect or tribe to which the Indian Succession Act, 1865, applies, and in respect of which an order under section 332 of that Act is not for the time being in force, and all persons professing the Christian religion; (b) in the dominions of Princes and States in India in alliance with Her Majesty, British subjects being members of a like race, sect or tribe, or professing the Christian religion: (2) But the Local Government, by notification in the official Gazette, may, with the previous approval of the Governor General in Council, extend the operation of this chapter to any other class of persons either generally in local area. any or B.-Registration Establishment. 12. The Local Government may appoint, either by name or by virtue of Power for Local Government to appoint Registrars for its territories. their office, so many persons as it thinks necessary to be Registrars of Births and Deaths for such local areas within the territories under its administration as it may define and, if it sees fit, for any class of persons within any part of those territories. 13. The Governor General in Council may, by notification in the Gazette of India, appoint, either by name or by virtue of their office, so many persons as he thinks necessary to be Registrars of Births and Deaths for such local areas within the domi Power for Governor General in Council to appoint Registrars for Native States. nions of any Prince or State in India in alliance with Her Majesty as he may define and, if he sees fit, for any class of persons within any part of those dominions. Registrar to be deemed a public servant. 14. Every Registrar of Births and Deaths shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of the Indian Penal Code. 15. (1) The Local Government or the Governor General in Council, as the case may be, may suspend, remove or dismiss any Registrar of Births and Deaths. Power to remove Registrars. (2) A Registrar of Births and Deaths may resign by notifying in writing to the Local Government or to the Governor General in Council, as the case may be, his intention to do so, and, on his resignation being accepted by the Local Government or the Governor General in Council, he shall be deemed to have vacated his office. 16. (1) Every Registrar of Births and Deaths shall have an office in the local area, or within the part of the territories or dominions, for which he is appointed. Office and attendance of Registrar. (2) Every Registrar of Births and Deaths to whom the Local Government may direct this sub-section to apply shall attend at his office for the purpose of registering births and deaths on such days and at such hours as the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages may direct, and shall cause to be placed in some conspicuous place on or near the outer door of his office his name, with the addition of Registrar of Births and Deaths for the local area or class for which he is appointed, and the days and hours of his attendance. Absence of Registrar or vacancy in his office. 17. (1) When any Registrar of Births and Deaths to whom the Local Government may direct this section to apply, not being a Registrar of Births and Deaths for a local area in the town of Calcutta, Madras or Bombay, is absent, or when his office is temporarily vacant, any person whom the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages appoints in this behalf, or, in default of such appointment, the Judge of the District Court within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the Registrar's office is situate, or such other officer as the Local Government appoints in this behalf, shall be the Registrar of Births and Deaths during such absence or until the Local Government fills the vacancy. (2) When any such Registrar of Births and Deaths for a local area in the town of Calcutta, Madras or Bombay is absent, or when his office is temporarily vacant, any person whom the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages appoints in this behalf shall be the Registrar of Births and Deaths during such absence or until the Local Government fills the vacancy. (3) The Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages shall report to the Local Government all appointments made by him under this section. 18. The Local Government shall supply every Kegistrar of Births and Register books to be supplied and preservation of records to be provided for. Deaths with a sufficient number of register books of births and of register books of deaths, and shall make suitable provision for the preservation of the records connected with the registration of births and deaths. C.-Mode of Registration, Duty of Registrar to register births and deaths of which notice is given. 19. Every Registrar of Births and Deaths, on receipt of notice of a birth or death within the local area or among the class for which he is appointed, shall, if the notice is given within the prescribed time and in the prescribed mode by a person authorized by this Act to give the notice, forthwith make an entry of the birth or death in the proper register book: Provided that— (a) if he has reason to believe the notice to be in any respect false, he may refuse to register the birth or death until he receives an order from the Judge of the District Court directing him to make the entry and prescribing the manner in which the entry is to be made; and (b) he shall not enter in the register the name of any person as father of an illegitimate child, unless at the request of the mother and of the person acknowledging himself to be the father of the child. Persons authorized to give notice of birth. 20. Any of the following persons may give notice of a birth, namely :(a) the father or mother of the child; (b) any person present at the birth; - (c) any person occupying, at the time of the birth, any part of the house wherein the child was born and having knowledge of the child having been born in the house; (d) any medical practitioner in attendance after the birth and having personal knowledge of the birth having occurred; (e) any person having charge of the child. Persons authorized to give notice of death. 21. Any of the following persons may give notice of a death, namely:— (a) any relative of the deceased having knowledge of any of the particulars required to be registered concerning the death; (b) any person present at the death; (c) any person occupying, at the time of the death, any part of the house wherein the death occurred and having knowledge of the deceased having died in the house; |