The Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha is concerned about Venezuelan migrants entering the country with Hindu marriage licences issued by a pundit in central Trinidad. Pundit Lutchmidath Persad Maharaj, in a telephone interview yesterday, said there was an investigation of Venezuelans coming in from Cedros, presenting Hindu marriage licences.

These licences, he added, were being issued by a pundit from central Trinidad. Maharaj, who is also the first vice-president of the Inter-Religious Organisation, said the Immigration Division has been contacted. According to Maharaj, almost 100 people have produced marriage licences with that pundit’s registration.He said this took place over an extended period of time and not during the recently concluded two-week registration period.

“There was an investigation going on because it meant the licence had to be shipped out of the country for them to be presenting it when they came in at the port in Cedros.” “It is a legitimate concern for the Maha Sabha,” he told Newsday. He said marriage licences are only issued after a particular set of religious rituals were performed, such as pre martial counselling and the balancing of astrologies or the planetary influences. “We would hope that the pundits’ practice the correct thing. Once you hold a Hindu marriage licence, the process of registering the marriage could only take place after the ritual is completed.”(Trinidad Newsday)…[+]