This article has been written by Ms. Kumari Shalini, a fourth-year student of Lloyd Law College, Greater Noida. 

ABSTRACT   

India’s legal system is incredibly diverse. This includes rules and laws in addition to customs, usages, and practices. Indian law is primarily divided into three categories: criminal law, religious law, and civil law. In India, “family law” refers to the wide variety of laws that control matters in families, including marriage, divorce, inheritance, and so forth. Some legally enforceable rights and obligations arise when one gives the status of interpersonal interactions legal validity. Families are considered to be a large part of society which helps in the mobility of daily life, work, rules, and regulations. Marriage among families is considered to be very auspicious in every Personal law. There are five types of Family Law in India, there is Hindu Law based on holy Hindu scriptures such as Vedas, Upanishads, and the Manu Smriti. Muslim Law, Hadith, and the Quran are its foundation. Christian Law, for them, the Bible is their holy scripture, the Parsi Law and the Special Marriage Act, of 1954. So, in the present article, we will discuss the annulment of marriages of given types of marriages with the help of case laws, that are relevant to our topic. We will learn about the grounds on which annulment is given and the procedure for the same.

INTRODUCTION

The Law is a body of regulations that the government creates and makes binding on the general public, providing exact definitions for topics that have been up for discussion for a long time. According to some, it’s a science of the art of justice. The vast array of laws and standards that are in effect concerning things like marriage, divorce, and inheritance is referred to as family law. When one grants legal legitimacy to the state of relationships, there are enforceable legal rights and duties. No statute has a definition for “marriage.” Even though various personal laws have clarified this, marriage is still generally regarded in modern societies as a legal contract with state sanction, marking the assumption of the roles of husband and wife under the legal standards upheld in the community or class to which the parties belong. Former Indian President DR. Radhakrishnan notes that marriage is “not a mere convention, but an implicit condition of human society. It is an establishment designed to foster and express love. Its goals include not just bearing and raising children but also developing the husband and wife’s personalities by satisfying their need for a lifelong companionship that would allow them to both become whole and enrich each other’s lives.”

But various grounds are now the reason for the separation of the spouses in the sacramental marriage. Like, lack of commitment, constant conflicts, unrealistic expectations from each other or about the marriage, and domestic violence are the greatest reasons why people get divorced or their marriage is nullified. Annulment of marriage is one such thing that is prevalent nowadays that is happening in the family courts of India. 

What is Annulment?

The definition of annulment is the rejection of a marriage or its nullification. When a marriage does not comply with the laws in effect at the time of marriage, it might be deemed void. An annulment of marriage is the declaration that a marriage, while lawful up to that point, is now null and void. It means deeming a marriage that is voidable null and void. To resolve any future complex scenario, a formal declaration of marital annulment is required. According to several legal laws, a marriage is deemed null and void by the authorities, known as a marriage annulment. A void marriage can be declared without the necessity for a petition or supporting documentation. After the period of its beginning, the marriage is already empty or has never been. However, in a voidable marriage, one or both partners ask the court to declare their union null and void.

Annulment of Marriage under Hindu Law and its grounds

Divorce and annulment of marriage can occur for a variety of reasons. Hindu Law lists the following as grounds for divorce: mental illness, infectious diseases, cruelty, adultery, conversion, desertion, five years of presumed death, and renunciation of worldly goods. However, the reasons for dissolving a marriage can occasionally differ, but they are typically restricted to the following: bigamy, dishonesty, blood relationships, and mental incapacity mentioned below under section 12 of the Hindu Marriage Act:

1. if at the time of the marriage, one of the partners was already married to another person;
2. if any partner failed to reach the legal marriageable age;
3. if at the time of the marriage, one or both of the partners were drunk;
4. If at the time of marriage, one of the partners was mad or unwell;
5. If there was any fraud or coercion involved in the marital consent, one or both spouses were physically incapable of being married.
6. if one partner in a marriage is unable to have a physical relationship.
7. Criminals who have already received a life sentence are prohibited from getting married.
8. Concealment (for example, when one of the parties didn’t disclose a drug addiction, a past criminal history, or an STD)
9. The parties’ relationship makes the marriage illegal under the law. “Prohibited degree of consanguinity” refers to the parties’ blood kinship.

Procedure to Obtain Marriage Annulment

To legally achieve the nullity of marriage, the party must adhere to the procedure outlined by Indian law:

-Since the annulment of marriage is not a regular procedure, the applicant must fulfill residency requirements in the place where they intend to dwell. 

-The individual then has the option to file the petition in the place of his birth, the place of the marriage ceremony, or the place where he has been living together for the full ninety days before completing the application. 

–Then making contact with a divorce attorney is the second step; the attorney will assist with the process and handle the paperwork and filing. 

-The petitioner can schedule an in-person or virtual meeting with the divorce attorney to present supporting documentation for the grounds of annulment and a synopsis of the case. 

-Using the relevant data and paperwork, the expert will create a petition for marital annulment. The attorney will submit it to the court upon approval of the petition. 

Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 mentions some grounds which state that marriage is lawful and acceptable in certain situations.

In Lila v. Lakshman, 1978, The Allahabad High Court ruled that the marriage was null and void and that it never happened because it was previously regarded as a fictitious marriage in legal terms. A void marriage decree is merely a declaration of the marriage’s annulment. This determines that the marriage was dissolved by the court.

In the important case of Smt. Sarlabai v. Komal Singh, 1991, In the respondent’s case, the appellant and respondent were married around eight years before the marriage ceremony, but there was no cohabitation and no issue outside of the union. An inherent condition of the appellants was heart disease. She was therefore unable to perform both mental and physical tasks. She was unable to engage in sexual activity. The respondent was not made aware of any of these details. Fraud was used to perform the marriage which was discovered by the respondent in February 1985. The respondent additionally argued that the appellant had visited her parents to attend her sister’s wedding ceremony after two years of marriage. Since then, she has never gone back to the respondent. Therefore, the respondent filed a lawsuit seeking a divorce and a declaration of nullity of marriage. Hence, the respondent could not properly prove the ground of annulment and the court said, heart illness is not one of the grounds for the grant of annulment specified in Section 12(1) of the Hindu Marriage Act, hence the appellant’s current medical condition cannot also serve as a basis for a divorce judgment to be granted under that section.

In another case of Moina Khosla v. Amardeep Khosla, 1986, the appellant Moina Khosla was married to the respondent Amardeep Khosla on 10th July 1983, the appellant left the respondent’s husband and stayed in Srinagar till 17th July 1983. After this, the respondent was unable to consummate the marriage. After making one or two failed attempts at first, the respondent stopped trying to consummate the marriage. There was no penetration of the petitioner. At the time of their marriage, the respondent was impotent, and they remained so until they filed the petition.” The petition claimed that the respondent’s husband’s impotence was the reason the marriage was not consummated. The wife is entitled to a decree of nullity of marriage on the grounds mentioned under Section 12(1)(a) of the Act, and the Additional District Judge’s judgment needs to be set aside, which it is hereby set aside, and the court held in favor of appellant Moina Khosla in the statement recorded in the court.

Annulment under other Laws-

 Christian Personal Law

The Indian Divorce Act’s (1869) Section 18 Part 4 addresses the following clause. The following is a description of the several Grounds of nullity:

• The respondent’s impotence at the time of marriage.
• To some extent, both parties are consanguineous. 
• if at the time of marriage, any member of the party is insane or a fool.
• If a marriage is being forced and either of the parties has a living former spouse.
• consent obtained by coercion or deception from either party.

Special Marriage Act, 1954:

The following reasons are listed for a marriage annulment in inter-caste and inter-religious unions:

• If any partner has declined to participate in the marriage.
• If the wife was not expecting the child from her husband at the time of the marriage. 
• If permission was acquired through deception, fraud, or coercion—as defined by the Indian Contract Act of 1872.

Pari Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936:

In section 30 of this act, if the consummation of the marriage between the parties becomes impossible based on the account of natural causes, then it may be affirmed as null or void at the initiative of any party.

The Muslim Personal Law is mostly based on the Hadith and Quran, so they mostly follow their holy scripture for giving divorce based on the Shariat Act 1937. Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act 1939, allows a wife to seek divorce from the husband under required grounds.

Effects of Annulment of Marriage

When a marriage is dissolved, everything is erased from the records and it is considered to have never happened. An annulment of marriage results in a decree that the marriage never took place. It dissolves the union and puts the parties back in the same position they were in before getting married. It’s a common misconception that brief marriages can be dissolved, however marriage duration is not a determining factor. It is not necessary to divide the property between the parties or decide on the custody of any children born out of the marriage because annulments frequently happen even after extremely brief marriages. If a lengthier marriage is dissolved, the couple’s property will be divided by the court. 

CONCLUSION

An annulment is a legal process that dissolves a man and woman’s marriage. A marriage is declared to be dissolved entirely when it is annulled; legally, this indicates that the marriage was never real and existed only in theory. In the context of matrimonial laws, annulment of marriage is crucial since there is no benefit in imposing the burden of divorce in situations where a marriage was forged by deception or in which the responding spouse was previously married. Only when specific social norms and legal requirements are met is marriage declared lawful. The emptiness Despite being a socially accepted institution, family laws render marriage void. 

REFERENCES

• Lila v. Lakshman, 1978 SCC (3) 258

• Smt. Sarlabai v. Komal Singh, AIR 1991 MP 358
• Moina Khosla v.  Amardeep Singh, AIR 1986 Delhi 399
• This article was originally written by DR. Mukesh Kumar, and published in E-Journal, ISSN: 2454-8367, Vol no. 7. The link for the same is given herein: 

https://core.ac.uk/download/543120605.pdf

• This article was originally written by Bhakti Arora in Law Times Journal. The link for the same is given herein: 

https://lawtimesjournal.in/annulment-of-marriage/

• Marriage Annulment Laws in India. The link for the same is given herein: https://www.indialawoffices.com/knowledge-centre/marriage-annulment