#THE BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES REGISTRATION ACT, 1886 
_________ 

##ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 
________ 

###CHAPTER I 

###PRELIMINARY 

SECTIONS 

1. Short title and commencement. 
2. Extent. 
3. Definitions. 
4. Saving of local laws. 
5. Powers exercisable from time to time 

###CHAPTER II 

###GENERAL REGISTRY OFFICES OF BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES 

6. Establishment of general registry offices and appointment of Registrars General. 
7. Indexes to be kept at general registry office. 
8. Indexes to be open to inspection. 
9. Copies of entries to be admissible in evidence. 
10. Superintendence of Registrars by Registrar General. 

###CHAPTER III 

###REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS 

*A.—Application of this Chapter*

11. Persons whose births and deaths are registrable. 

*B.—Registration Establishment*

12. Power for State Government to appoint Registrars for its territories. 
13. [Omitted.]. 
14. Registrar to be deemed a public servant. 
15. [Repealed.]. 
16. Office and attendance of Registrar. 
17. Absence of Registrar or vacancy in his office. 
18. Register books to be supplied and preservation of records to be provided for. 

*C.—Mode of registration*

19. Duty of Registrar to register births and deaths of which notice is given. 
20. Persons authorised to give notice of birth. 
21. Persons authorised to give notice of death. 
22. Entry of birth or death to be signed by person giving notice. 
23. Grant of certificate of registration of birth or death. 
24. Duty of Registrars as to sending certified copies of entries in register books to Registrar General. 
25. Searches and copies of entries in register books. 
26. Exceptional provision for registration of certain births and deaths. 

*D.—Penalty for False Information*

27. Penalty for willfully giving false information. 

*E.—Correction of Errors*

28. Correction of entry in register of births or deaths. 

###CHAPTER IV 

###AMENDMENT OF MARRIAGE ACTS 

29. [Repealed.]. 
30. [Repealed.]. 
31. [Repealed.].

###CHAPTER V 

###SPECIAL PROVISIONS AS TO CERTAIN EXISTING REGISTERS 

32. Permission to persons having custody of certain records to send them within one year to Registrar 
General. 

33. Appointment of Commissioners to examine registers. 
34. Duties of Commissioners. 
35. Searches of lists prepared by Commissioners and grant of certified copies of entries. 
35A. Constitution of additional Commissions for purposes of this Chapter. 

###CHAPTER VI 

###RULES 

36. Rules. 
37. [Repealed.]. 



#THE BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES REGISTRATION ACT, 1886 

##ACT NO. 6 OF 1886

[8th March, 1886.] 

An  Act  to  provide  for  the  voluntary  Registration  of  certain  Births  and  Deaths,  for  the 
establishment of General Registry Offices for keeping Registers of certain Births, Deaths and 
Marriages, and for certain other purposes. 

  WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the voluntary registration of births and deaths among certain 
classes  of  persons,  for  the  more  effectual  registration  of  those  births  and  deaths  and  of  the  marriages 
registered under Act 3 of 1872, or the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872 (15 of 1872) and of certain 
marriages  registered  under  the  Parsi  Marriage  and  Divorce  Act,  18653  (15  of  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:— 

###CHAPTER I 

###PRELIMINARY 

1. **Short title and commencement.**—(1) This Act may be called the Births, Deaths and Marriages 
Registration Act, 1886; and 

(2) It shall come into force on such day as the Central Government, by notification in the Official 
Gazette, directs. 

2. **Extent.**—This Act extends to the whole  of  India  except the territories  which,  immediately 
before the 1st November, 1956, were comprised in Part B States.

3. **Definitions.**—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 under this Act; and 

  “Registrar  of  Births  and  Deaths”  means  a  Registrar  of  Births  and  Deaths  appointed  under  this 
Act. 

4. **Saving of local laws.**—Nothing in this Act, or in any rule made under this Act, shall affect any law 
heretofore  or  hereafter  passed  providing  for  the  registration  of  births  and  deaths  within  particular  local 
areas. 

5. **Powers exercisable from time to time.**—All powers conferred by this Act may be exercised from 
time to time as occasion requires. 

###CHAPTER II 

###GENERAL REGISTRY OFFICES OF BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES 

6. **Establishment of general registry offices and appointment of Registrars General.**—(1) Each 
State Government— 

  (a) shall establish a general registry office for keeping such certified copies of registers of births 
and deaths registered under this Act, or marriages registered under Act 3 of 1872 (*to provide a form 
of marriage in certain cases*) or the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872 ( 15 of 1872), or, beyond the 
local  limits  of  the  ordinary  original  civil  jurisdiction  of  the  High  Court  of  Judicature  at  Bombay, 
under the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1865 (15 of 1865), as may be sent to it under this Act, or 
under any of the three last-mentioned Acts, as amended by this Act; and 

  (b) may appoint to the charge of that office an officer, to be called the Registrar General of Births, 
Deaths and Marriages, for the territories under its administration: 

7. **Indexes  to  be  kept  at  general  registry  office.**—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  3  of  1872 the  Indian  Christian Marriage Act,  1872  (15  of 1872),  or  the  Parsi Marriage  and 
Divorce  Act,  1865 (15  of  1865),  as  amended  by  this  Act,  to  be  made  and  kept  in  his  office  in  the 
prescribed form. 

8. **Indexes to be open to inspection.**—Subject to the payment of the prescribed fees the indexes so 
made  shall  be  at  all  reasonable  time  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. **Copies  of  entries  to  be  admissible  in  evidence.**—A  copy  of  an  entry  given  under  the  last 
foregoing  section  shall  be certified  by  the  Registrar General  of  Births,  Deaths and  Marriages,  or  by  an 
officer  authorised  in  this  behalf  by  the  State  Government  and  shall  be  admissible  in  evidence  for  the 
purpose of proving the birth, death or marriage to which the entry relates. 

10. **Superintendence of Registrars by Registrar General.**—Each  Registrar  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. 

###CHAPTER III 

###REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS 

*A.—Application of this Chapter*

11. **Persons  whose  births  and  deaths  are  registrable.**—(1)  The  persons  whose  births  and  deaths 
shall, in the first instance, be registrable under this Chapter are the following, namely:— 

  (a) in the territories to which this Act extends the members of every race, sect or tribe to which 
the Indian Succession Act, 18655 (10 of 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; 
 
  (2) But the State Government by notification in the Official Gazette, may extend the operation of 
this Chapter to any other class of persons either generally or in any local area. 

*B.—Registration Establishment*

12. **Power for State Government to appoint Registrars for its territories.**—The State Government 
may  appoint,  either  by  name  or  by  virtue  of  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. *[Power  for  Central  Government  to  appoint  Registrars  for  Indian  States].  Omitted.  by  the  A.O.* 1950. 

14. **Registrar  to  be  deemed  a  public  servant.**—Every  Registrar  of  Births  and  Deaths  shall  be 
deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860). 

15. *[Power to remove Registrars].—Rep. by the A.O.* 1937. 

16. **Office and attendance of Registrar.**—(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. 

  (2) Every Registrar of Births and Deaths to whom the State 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. 

17. **Absence of Registrar or vacancy in his office.**—(1) When any Registrar of Births and Deaths to 
whom the State 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 State Government appoints in this 
behalf, shall be the Registrar of Births and Deaths during such absence or until the State 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 State Government fills the vacancy. 

  (3) The Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages shall report  to the State Government all 
appointments made by him under this section. 

18. **Register  books  to  be  supplied  and  preservation  of  records  to  be  provided  for.**—The  State 
Government  shall  every  Registrar  of  Births  and  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*

19. **Duty of Registrar to register births and deaths of which notice is given.**—Every Registrar of 
Births and Deaths 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. 

20. **Persons authorised to give notice of birth.**—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 birth 
occurred; 

  (e) any person having charge of the child. 

21. **Persons authorised to give notice of death.**—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; 

  (d) any person in attendance during the last illness of the deceased: 

  (e) any person who has seen the body of the deceased after death. 

22. **Entry of birth or death to be signed by person giving notice.**—(1) When an entry of a birth or 
death has been made by the Registrar of Births and Deaths under section 19, the person giving notice of 
the birth or death must sign the entry in the register in the presence of the Registrar: 

  Provided that it shall not be necessary for the person giving notice to attend before the Registrar or 
to sign the entry in the register if he has given such notice in writing and has furnished to the satisfaction 
of  the  Registrar  such  evidence  of  his  identity  as  may  be  required  by  any  rules  made  by  the  State 
Government in this behalf.

  (2) Until the entry has been so signed, or the conditions specified in the proviso to sub-section (1) 
have been complied with the birth or death shall not be deemed to be registered under this Act. 

  (3) When the birth of an illegitimate child is registered, and the mother and the person acknowledging 
himself to be the father of the child jointly request that person may be registered as the father, the mother 
and that person must both sign the entry in the register in the presence of the Registrar. 

23. **Grant of certificate of registration of birth or death.**—The  Registrar  of  Births  and  Deaths 
shall, on application made at the time of registering any birth or death by the person giving notice of the 
birth  or  death,  and  on  payment  by  him  of  the  prescribed  fee,  give  to  the  applicant  a  certificate  in  the 
prescribed form signed by the Registrar, of having registered the birth or death. 

24. **Duty  of  Registrars  as  to  sending  certified  copies  of  entries  in  register  books  to  Registrar 
General.**—(1) Every  Registrar  of  Birth  and  Deaths  in the  territories  to  which  this  Act  extends shall 
send to the Registrar General of Birth, Deaths and Marriages for the territories within which the local area 
or class for which he is appointed is situate or resides, at the prescribed intervals, a true copy certified by 
him, in the prescribed form, of all the entries of births and deaths in the register book kept by him since 
the last of those intervals: 

  Provided  that  in  the  case  Registrars  of  Births  and  Deaths  who  are  clergymen  of  the  Churches  of 
England,  Rome  and  Scotland  the  Registrar  may,  if  so  directed  by  his  ecclesiastical  superior,  send  the 
certified copies in the first instance to that superior, who shall send them to the proper Registrar General 
of Births, Deaths and Marriages. 

  In this sub-section “Church of England” and “Church of Scotland” means the Church of England and 
the  Church  of  Scotland  as  by  law  established  respectively;  and  “Church  of  Rome”  means  the  Church 
which regards the Pope of Rome as its spiritual head. 

25. **Searches  and  copies  of  entries  in  register  books.**—(1)  Every  Registrar  of  Births  and  Deaths 
shall, on payment of the prescribed fees, at all reasonable times, allow searches to be made in the register 
books kept by him, and give a copy of any entry in the same. 

  (2)  Every  copy  of  an  entry  in  a  register  book  given  under  this  section  shall  be  certified  by  the 
Registrar of Births and Deaths, and shall be admissible in evidence for the purpose of proving the birth or 
death to which the entry relates. 

26. **Exceptional  provision  for  registration  of  certain  births  and  deaths.**—Notwithstanding 
anything  in  section  19, the State  Government may make rules authorising  Registrars  of  Births  and 
Deaths,  on  conditions  and  in  circumstances  to  be  specified  in  the  rules,  to  register  births  and  deaths 
occurring outside the local areas or classes for which they are appointed. 

*D.—Penalty for False Information*

27. **Penalty for willfully giving false information.**—If any person willfully makes, or causes to be 
made,  for  the  purpose  of  being  inserted  in  any  register  of  births  or  deaths,  any  false  statement  in 
connection with any notice of a birth or death under this Act, he shall be punished with imprisonment for 
a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both. 
 
*E.—Correction of Errors*

28. **Correction of entry in register of births or deaths.**—(1) If it is proved to the satisfaction of a 
Registrar of Births and Deaths that any entry of a birth or death in any register kept by him under this Act 
is  erroneous  in  form  or  substance,  he  may,  subject  to  such  rules1  as  may  be  made  by  the State 
Government with respect to the conditions and circumstances on and in which errors may be corrected, 
correct  the  error  by  entry  in  the  margin,  without  any  alteration  of the  original  entry,  and  shall  sign  the 
marginal entry and add thereto the date of the correction. 

(2) If a certified copy of the entry has already been sent to the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and 
Marriages, the Registrar of Births and Deaths shall make and send a separate certified copy of the original 
erroneous entry and of the marginal correction therein made. 

###CHAPTER IV 

###AMENDMENT OF MARRIAGE ACTS 

29. *[Addition of new section after section 13, Act 3 of 1872]. Rep. by the Repealing Act, 1938 (1 of 
1938), s. 2 and the Schedule.*

30. *[Amendment of the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872]. Rep. by s. 2 and the Schedule, ibid.*

31. *[Addition of new section after section 8 of the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1865]. Rep. by 
s. 2 and the Schedule, ibid.*

###CHAPTER V 

###SPECIAL PROVISIONS AS TO CERTAIN EXISTING REGISTERS 

32. **Permission  to  persons  having  custody  of  certain  records  to  send  them  within  one  year  to 
Registrar General.**—If any person in the territories to which this Act extends has for the time being 
the custody of any register or record of birth, baptism, naming, dedication, death or burial of any persons 
of  the  classes  referred  to  in  section  11,subsection  (1),  or,  of  any  register  or  record  of  marriage  of  any 
persons of the classes to which Act III of 1872 or the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872(15of 1872) or 
the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1865 (15 of 1865) applies, and if such register or record has been 
made otherwise than in performance of a duly specially enjoined by the law of the country in which the 
register or record was kept, he may, at any time before the first day April, 1891, send the register or 
record  to  the  office  of  the  Registrar  General  or  Births,  Deaths  and  Marriages  for  the  territories  within 
which he resides, .

33. **Appointment of Commissioners to examine registers.**— (1) Any State Government in the case 
of  registers  or  records  sent  under  section  32  to  the  Registrar  General  for  the  territories  under  its 
administration, may appoint so many persons as it thinks fit to be Commissioner for examining 
such registers or records.

(2) The  Commissioners so  appointed shall  hold  office  for such  period  as  the authority appointing 
them, by the order of appointment, or any subsequent order, directs. 

34. **Duties of Commissioners.**—(1) The Commissioners appointed under the last foregoing section 
shall enquire into the state, custody and authenticity of every such register or record as may be sent to the 
Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages under section 32; 

and  shall  deliver  to  the  Registrar  General  a  descriptive  list  or  descriptive  lists  of  all  such  registers  or 
records, or portions of registers or records, as they find to be accurate and faithful. 

(2) The list or lists shall contain the prescribed particulars and refer to the registers or records, or to 
the portions of the registers or records, in me prescribed manner. 

(3) The  Commissioners,  shall  also  certify  in  writing,  upon  some  part  of  every  separate  book  or 
volume containing any such register or record, or portion of a register or record, as is referred to in any 
list or lists made by the Commissioners, that it is one of the registers or records, or portions of registers or 
records, referred to in the said list or lists. 

35. **Searches  of  lists  prepared  by  Commissioners  and  grant  of  certified  copies  of  entries.**—(1) 
Subject  to  the  payment  of  the  prescribed  fees,  the  descriptive  list  or  lists  of  registers  or  records,  or 
portions  of  registers  or  records,  delivered  by  the  Commissioners  to  the  Registrar  General  of  Births, 
Deaths  and  Marriages  shall  be,  at  all  reasonable  times,  open  to  inspection  by  any  person  applying  to 
inspect it or them, and copies of entries in those registers or records shall be given to all persons applying 
for them. 

  (2) A copy of an entry given under this section shall be certified by the Registrar General of Births, 
Deaths and Marriages, or by an officer or person authorised in this behalf by the State Government and 
shall be admissible in evidence for the purpose of proving the birth, baptism, naming, dedication, death, 
burial or marriage to which the entry relates. 

35A. **Constitution of additional Commissions for purposes of this Chapter.**—(1) The State 
Government may by notification in the Official Gazette appoint more Commissions than one for the 
purposes of section 33, each such Commission consisting of so many and such members, and having its 
functions restricted to the disposal, under this Act and the rules there under, of such registers and records 
sent under section 32 to the Registrar General, as may be specified in the notification. 

  (2) If more Commissions than one are appointed in exercise of the power conferred by sub-section 
(1),  then  references  in  this  Act  to  the  Commissioners  shall  be  construed  as  references  to  the  members 
constituting a Commission so appointed.

###CHAPTER VI 

###RULES 

36.  Rules.— (1) The  State  Government,  for  each  State may  make  rules  to  carry  out  the 
purpose of this Act.

(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may— 

  (a) fix the fees payable under this Act; 

  (b) prescribe the forms required for the purposes of this Act; 

  (c) prescribe the time within which, and the mode in which, persons authorised under this Act to 
give notice of a birth or death to a Registrar of Births and Deaths must give the notice; 

  (d) prescribe  the  evidence  of  identity  to  be  furnished  to  a  Registrar  of  Birth  and  Deaths  by 
persons giving notice of a birth or death in cases where personal attendance before such Registrar is 
dispensed with; 

  (e) prescribe the registers to be kept and the form and manner in which Registrars of Births and 
Deaths are to register births and deaths under this Act, and the intervals at which they are to send to 
the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages true copies of the entries of births and deaths in 
the registers kept by them; 

  (f) prescribe  the  conditions  and  circumstances  on  and  in  which  Registers  of  Births  and  Deaths 
may correct entries of births and deaths in registers kept by them; 

  (g) prescribe the particulars which the descriptive list or lists to be prepared by the Commissioner 
appointed under Chapter V are to contain, and the manner in which they are to refer to the registers or 
records, or portions of registers or records, to which they relates; and 

  (h) prescribe the custody in which those registers or records are to kept. 

(3) Every  power  to  make  rules  conferred  by  this  Act  is  subject  to  the  condition  of  the  rules  being 
made after previous publication. 

(4) All rules made under this Act shall be published in the Official Gazette and on such publication 
shall have effect as if enacted in this Act.

37. *[Procedure  for  making  and  publication  of  rules].  Rep.  by  the  Births,  Deaths  and  Marriages 
Registration (Amendment) Act*, 1911 (9 of 1911) s. 5.