marriage annulment
Querist :
Anonymous
(Querist) 28 January 2011
This query is : Resolved
SIR,
I have done a registered marriage 3 years ago with a girl but we dont have cohabited since then. But now i found that the Registration should not have been done because there exists vast differences in both of us. I m now 33. I got the registration out of some emotion for which I m now lamenting. Since we have not lived together, can this marriage be annulled. The girl actually dont want to get this marriage annulled. The marriage certificate is with her and she will never hand over it to me. Without the certificate, is it possible to get annulment? Can a marriage annulment application be produced at court from only my side without her concent? Help me sir, I m in a great trouble. I just cannot start living with her. I m a govt servant and this case has taken away my peace of mind. The registration was actually done in a hurry and I was not in a position to think and decide rightly at that time. This also was done against my parents knowledge. Now the girl is forcing me to start living together. But I can never consummate with that girl due to complete dissimilarity between thinking and habits of us.Please help me and guide me to get this marriage annuled one sidedly.
A V Vishal
(Expert) 28 January 2011
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.
Further any marriage solemnized, whether before or after the commencement of the Hindu Marriage Act, shall be voidable and may be annulled by a decree of nullity on any of the following grounds, namely:-
(a) that the marriage has not been consummated owing to the impotence of the respondent; 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 6[was required under section 5 as it stood immediately before the commencement of the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Act, 1978], (2 of 1978) the consent of such guardian was obtained by force or by fraud as to the nature of the ceremony or as to any material fact or circumstances concerning the respondent; 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 the 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 consent, 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 said ground.
Hence annulment is not possible in your case and you need to go for a divorce.
