If you’re a suburban Mumbai resident trying to get married under the Special Marriage Act, you're likely to have to fill up an intriguing wedding registration form. Before signing as a married couple, the form might ask you to declare the following: “Neither of us is an Edit or Lunatic.”
If you’re an editor of any sort, you might have some existential questions: is my profession driving me nuts? Are editors allowed to get married? Am I allowed to correct spellings and grammar on a government form? (Yes, yes and no.)
The requirement was found on the Special Marriage Act form handed out at the Bandra marriage office recently, and it found its way to Twitter.
The big question is, who is an "edit"? Is it actually meant to prevent addicts from tying the knot?
According to the original Act, this is actually a typo for "idiot". Before solemnising a marriage under the Special Marriage Act, which can be availed of by couples who do not want to get married under religious laws, there are a few conditions a bride and groom must fulfill: they must, among other things, be at least 21 years old, must not have any other living spouse, must not be “within the degrees of a prohibited relationship” and neither must be “an idiot or a lunatic”.
This, inevitably, leads to the bigger question: who exactly is an idiot? As it turns out, Indian law has the answer.
According to the Indian Lunacy Act of 1912, an idiot is a "person of unsound mind”. In 2008, the Supreme Court offered some more detailed analysis on what qualifies as official idiocy.
An idiot, the court said, is someone who is born with “non-sane memory”, one who cannot count up to 20, cannot list the days of the week or cannot name his or her parents. Such an idiot – along with “lunatics, drunks and the very ill” – could be classified as “mentally unsound”, said the court. According to the Indian Penal Code, being of unsound mind can exempt a person from criminal persecution, as long as the accused can prove it himself.
Of course, given the anti-media sentiment so pervasive these days, many on Twitter would claim that "idiot" is actually a perfectly apt synonym for those in the editing trade.
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If you’re an editor of any sort, you might have some existential questions: is my profession driving me nuts? Are editors allowed to get married? Am I allowed to correct spellings and grammar on a government form? (Yes, yes and no.)
The requirement was found on the Special Marriage Act form handed out at the Bandra marriage office recently, and it found its way to Twitter.
Special marriage act, point c says" Neither of us is an edit or lunatic".please explain someone. #marriage #india pic.twitter.com/70iozJ6pt5
— Tillotama Shome (@TillotamaShome) May 4, 2015The big question is, who is an "edit"? Is it actually meant to prevent addicts from tying the knot?
According to the original Act, this is actually a typo for "idiot". Before solemnising a marriage under the Special Marriage Act, which can be availed of by couples who do not want to get married under religious laws, there are a few conditions a bride and groom must fulfill: they must, among other things, be at least 21 years old, must not have any other living spouse, must not be “within the degrees of a prohibited relationship” and neither must be “an idiot or a lunatic”.
This, inevitably, leads to the bigger question: who exactly is an idiot? As it turns out, Indian law has the answer.
According to the Indian Lunacy Act of 1912, an idiot is a "person of unsound mind”. In 2008, the Supreme Court offered some more detailed analysis on what qualifies as official idiocy.
An idiot, the court said, is someone who is born with “non-sane memory”, one who cannot count up to 20, cannot list the days of the week or cannot name his or her parents. Such an idiot – along with “lunatics, drunks and the very ill” – could be classified as “mentally unsound”, said the court. According to the Indian Penal Code, being of unsound mind can exempt a person from criminal persecution, as long as the accused can prove it himself.
Of course, given the anti-media sentiment so pervasive these days, many on Twitter would claim that "idiot" is actually a perfectly apt synonym for those in the editing trade.