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If person married forcibly. What can be done to avoid such marriage?


24-May-2023 (In Divorce Law)

My boyfriend has been forcibly and fraudulently married to a girl in January this year by threatening him and by doing a forged signature of the pandit. I had an affair with this guy for about 3 years. Then he went to Dehradun and he got involved with another girl and cheated on me.

 

The girl came back to Delhi and when my boyfriend took her to Dehradun, the girl’s parents forcibly got him married and registered the marriage in the court as well in January 2014.

 

Now he wants to come back. What can he do?

 

Answers (1)

Answer #1
315 votes


The option available to him is to file for annulment of marriage under Section 12(1)(c) of the Hindu Marriage Act and get a decree of nullity of marriage in his favor.


 
Section 12 of the Hindu Marriage Act provides for Voidable marriages. It states that:

(1) Any marriage solemnized, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, shall be voidable and may be annulled by a decree of nullity on any of the following grounds, namely:-

(a) that the respondent was impotent at the time of the marriage and continued to be so until the institution of the proceedings; or

(b) that the marriage is in contravention of the condition specified in clause (ii) of section 5; or

(c) that the consent of the petitioner, or where the consent of the guardian in marriage of the petitioner is required under section 5, the consent of such guardian was obtained by force or fraud; or

(d) that the respondent was at the time of the marriage pregnant by some person other than the petitioner.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), no petition for annulling a marriage-

(a) on the ground specified in clause (c) of sub-section (1) shall be entertained if-

(i) the petition is presented more than one year after for force had ceased to operate or, as the case may be, the fraud had been discovered; or

(ii) the petitioner has, with his or her full coqnsent, lived with the other party to the marriage as husband or wife after the force had ceased to operate or, as the case may be, the fraud had been discovered;

(b) on the ground specified in clause (d) of sub-section (1) shall be entertained unless the court is satisfied-

(i) that the petitioner was at the time of the marriage ignorant of the facts alleged;

(ii) that proceedings have been instituted in the case of a marriage solemnized before the commencement of this Act within one year of such commencement and in the case of marriages solemnized after such commencement within one year from the date of the marriage; and

(iii) that marital intercourse with the consent of the petitioner has not taken place since the discovery by the petitioner of the existence of the grounds for a decree.

So this Petition needs to be filed as soon as the force ceases to exist and he shall have to adduce evidence that his consent was obtained by way of force or fraud.

Kindly contact us for any further details and action. 


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