This article has been written by Ms. Yashashvi Mishra of 3rd year from University of Allahabad Prayagraj

ABSTRACT

An annulment means declaring your marriage as void or null. Unlike divorce where both the partners seek to end their marriage, annulment simply declines the existence of any such marriage between the partners.

              To understand the conditions to be met for a void marriage, you first need to understand annulment, its laws, and how they are different from a divorce. Annulment is just a declaration of a void marriage. And a void or empty marriage results in annulment.

   Marriage is necessarily the basis of social organization and the foundation of important legal rights and obligations. In Hindu Law, Marriage is treated as a Samaskara or a Sacrament. A Hindu marriage joins two individuals for life, so that they can pursue dharma (duty), artha (possessions), kama (physical desires), and moksa (ultimate spiritual release) together. It also joins two families together. The colors are normally red and gold. It is a vow between two people to stay together and uphold traditional family values in accordance with Dharma. In the traditional Hindu system of marriage, there is no role for the state as marriage remained a private affair within the social realm. Within this traditional framework reference, marriage is undoubtedly the most important transitional point in a Hindu’s life and the most important of all the Hindu samskaras, or life-cycle rituals. Divorce, however is a thorny question and Annulment is a very unusual remedy. In our modern world, an Annulment tends to be more a creature of religion than of law. Annulments are rarely granted and when they are, very specific circumstances must exist. 

What is Annulment?

Annulment meaning is rejecting the existence of a marriage or nullifying it. Marriage can be declared null when it has not met legal requirements at the time of marriage. Annulment of marriage means declaring a marriage that was valid till that date but now is a void marriage. It refers to declaring a voidable marriage as void. You may feel a bit confused with these two words, void and a voidable marriage. Void marriage doesn’t need any evidence or petition to declare a marriage null. It already is an empty marriage or has not ever existed after the time of its commencement. But in the case of Voidable marriage, either of the partners seeks the court judgment on the annulment of their marriage. To have a bit better clarity, we can understand it from the legal perspective also.

       In strict Legal terminology, annulment refers only to making a voidable marriage null; if the marriage is void ab initio, then it is automatically null, although a legal declaration of nullity is required to establish this. Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. With the exception of bigamy and not meeting the minimum age requirement for marriage, it is rarely granted. A marriage can be declared null and void if certain legal requirements were not met at the time of the marriage. If these legal requirements were not met then the marriage is considered to have never existed in the eyes of the law. This process is called annulment. It is very different from divorce in that while a divorce dissolves a marriage that has existed, a marriage that is annulled never existed at all. Thus unlike divorce, it is retroactive: an annulled marriage is considered never to have existed.

Grounds of Annulment

There are different grounds under which one can seek nullity of marriage in the court. Those grounds are:

• If any of the spouses were married at the time of marriage.
• If either of the spouses was not of a sound mind at the time of marriage.
• If either of the spouses was under the influence of any drug and not in a position to give his/her consent.
• If the consent to the marriage was based on fraud or force.
• If either of the partners is incapable of a physical relationship in a marriage.
• Prisoners sentenced to a term of life imprisonment may not marry.

Legitimacy of Children after the Annulment of Marriage:

If a child is born out of a wedlock which is subsequently declared to be null and void, that child will not be considered illegitimate but he shall be considered legitimate despite the marriage being illegal from its inception. The section provides a cushion to the children of void marriages and prevents them from being bastardised.

Rights of Children From Annulled Marriages

The court has the ability to establish rights and obligations related to the children from such marriages. Children from an annulled marriage are legitimate. 

• The status of legitimacy, that is declared by section 16, is part of the incidence of birth.
• The children born in a void or voidable marriage, should be legitimate. If they were declared legitimate, then they cannot be discriminated against and they will be on a par with other legitimate children and be entitled to all the rights in the property of their parents, both self-acquired and ancestral.
• The deemed status of legitimacy entitles such children to inherit and demand partition of only the properties of their parents and excludes any other properties. In the case of joint family property, such children will be entitled only to a share in their parents’ property but they cannot claim it on their own right. Logically, on the partition of an ancestral property, the property falling in the share of the parents of such children is regarded as their self-acquired and absolute property. 

Who can seek Annulment?

Below are the parties who can file the petition before the concerned court for the annulment of the marriage:

• In case the petitioner gives any consent for more than an year after the fraud committed by the other person.
• In case, the wife is pregnant with some other person at the time of marriage and the person to the marriage is not aware about the happening.

Right of Claiming Maintenance by a Woman after Annulment of Marriage

Unilateral divorcees (wives) whose marriages stand terminated by acts of their husbands and persons whose marriages have been terminated by intervention of Courts at the instance of either spouse, are certainly included within the sweep of the inclusive definition of “Wife”. The Legislature by a bold intervention included women of such terminated marriages also within the sweep of the expression “wife” subject to an important condition that they should not have re-married.

              The issue of right to maintenance under Section 25 of the Act, to a woman whose marriage is in contravention with Section 5(i) of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, and has been declared null and void by a court has been faced by various High Courts as well as the Supreme Court, and the courts have given different views depending upon the facts and circumstances of each case.

           The Supreme Court in the matter of Smt. Yamunabai Anantrao Adhav A vs. Ranantrao Shivram Adhav And Ors. discussed the issue of granting maintenance and accordingly held �that the marriage of a woman in accordance with the Hindu rites with a man having a living spouse is a complete nullity in the eye of law and she is not entitled to the benefit of section 125 of the CrPC.

   However, various High Courts have observed and it is a generally accepted rule that even in such cases, that the wife is entitled to maintenance under sec. 18 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 and under section 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

                     Thus, such children would be regarded in law as legitimate children of the parents for all purposes including succession. In Sarda Ram v. Durga Bai, it is now established that such children can inherit the separate property of their father under Section 8, Hindu Succession Act, but could not lay any claim on the coparcenary interest of the father. Son of such a marriage has no birth right in the Hindu Joint family property

Which laws govern Annulment in India?

In a single line, the Indian Divorce Act and Hindu Marriage Act have laws related to annulment in India.

1. Indian Divorce Act,1869: Section 18 of the Act gives the right to both of the parties i.e. husband and wife to file a petition for annulment of their marriage.
2. Hindu Marriage Act: Section 5 and 12 define the terms void and voidable marriage. It also described the laws related to the legitimacy of children in void marriages. The grounds of annulment are also stated under the Hindu Marriage Act.

Annulment Process

Now that no-fault divorce is readily available, marriage annulment is not very common. To get an annulment, a person first needs to meet the residency requirements of the state that they live in. The jurisdictional requirements are similar to those required for dissolution or divorce: one of the parties must live in the state where the marriage annulment is filed for a continuous ninety-day period. Similar to a divorce filing, marriage annulment case proceeds with a filing, petition, summons, and ancillary documents. An annulment case can be initiated by either the husband or the wife in the marriage. The grounds for marriage annulment are stated in the petition. A divorce can be much more complicated than an annulment.

Effects Of Marriage Annulment

Annulling a marriage simply erases it from the records, as if it never took place. The result of a marriage annulment is a decree that the marriage never existed. It nullifies the marriage, returning the parties to their prior single status. It’s a common misconception that short marriages can be annulled, but the length of the marriage is not a qualifying factor. Many times, annulments occur after very short marriages, so there is no need to divide assets or debts or decide custody of children produced by the marriage. In the case of a longer marriage that is annulled, the court will divide the property of the parties.

Conclusion

An annulment is a legal procedure which cancels a marriage between a man and a woman. Annulling a marriage is as though it is completely erased – legally, it declares that the marriage never technically existed and was never valid. Annulment of marriage is very important in the scheme of matrimonial laws as there is no point in carrying the burden of divorce in cases where marriage has been solemnized on the strength of fraud or where the marriage is solemnized despite the fact that the responding spouse was already married.

REFERENCES

• Litem.in
• LegalServicesIndia.in
• Smt. Yamunabai Anantrao Adhav A vs. Ranantrao Shivram Adhav And Ors. 1988 AIR 644, 1988 SCR (2) 809
• Sarda Ram v. Durga Bai AIR 1987 Bom 182, 1987 (1) BomCR 714, (1987) 89 BOMLR 51