ANNULMENT OF MARRIAGE
An annulment means an official announcement which ends the existence of the marriage. It is a process in which the marriage is declared as null and void due to some reasonable causes and these causes include that the legal requirements were not met at the time of marriage. When certain legal requirements are not met at the time of the marriage then the marriage is not considered as a valid marriage. The annulment of such marriage is passed by the authorities which never existed in the eye of law because of the absence of certain legal requirements which are important to make a marriage valid. When a petition for annulment of marriage is made by one party the court has to decide whether a valid marriage took place between the parties or not. When the decree of annulment is passed by the Court then the further duties or obligations towards each other also ends with the non-existence of the marriage.
Provisions of annulment under different personal laws
The provisions regarding the annulment of marriage have been dealt with in various personal laws. Those laws are discussed below:
The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
The provision related to the annulment of marriage has been dealt with under the head “Nullity of Marriage and Divorce”. Among Hindus, marriage is regarded as the sacred bond between the two individuals. The old Hindu laws of marriage have been wholly transformed by the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 to remove all the social defects introduced by the old laws. The new legislation has not only introduced some major changes but also tried to customise it so as to remove the social disparity. As per Hindu law, marriage can be of three types: Valid Marriage, Void Marriage and Voidable marriage.
Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (hereinafter HMA) provides for the conditions for a valid Hindu marriage. The conditions provided by the law for the valid Hindu marriage are:
• First of all, both parties must be Hindu. It has been clearly pointed out by Section 5 that “a marriage may be solemnized between any two Hindus”. Even if one party to a marriage is a non-Hindu then also their marriage would not be subjected to this law.
• According to Section 5(i), any party to a marriage should not have a spouse living at the time of the marriage. This provision barred bigamous or polygamous act.
• As per Section 5(ii), the following conditions should be kept in mind by the parties at the time of marriage:
- Any of the party to a marriage should not be incapable of giving a valid consent due to the unsoundness of mind;
- If both the parties to a marriage are capable of giving a valid consent but any of them should not suffer from such a mental disorder, which is unfit for marriage and the procreation of a child;
- Any of the party to a marriage should not have been subject to recurrent attacks of insanity.
• As per Section 5(iii), at the time of marriage, the bridegroom must have completed the age of twenty-one years and the bride must have completed the age of eighteen years;
• According to the custom or usage of the parties, their relationship must not fall within the degrees of a prohibited relationship if it so then it must be allowed by their custom and usage as provided by Section 5(iv);
• Section 5(v) provides that the parties should not be sapindas of each other. But if the customs or usage governing the parties to marriage allows then such marriage will be a valid marriage.
So, these were the conditions which should be fulfilled for a valid marriage under the Hindu law.