Voidable marriages
AI Assist
Summary
A marriage can be annulled if it was not consummated because the respondent is impotent, if it breaches the condition in section 5(ii), if consent was obtained by force or fraud, or if the respondent was pregnant by someone else at the time of marriage. For force or fraud the petition must be brought within one year of the force ending or the fraud being discovered, and is barred if the petitioner lived with the spouse with full consent after that. For pregnancy by another person the court will annul only if the petitioner was ignorant at the time, suit is filed within the specified one‑year period, and the petitioner has not had marital intercourse with consent since discovering the fact.
Example
Priya marries Arjun but they never consummate because Arjun is impotent. Priya files a petition for annulment and the court may declare the marriage voidable on that ground.
Bare Act
Enacted text(1) Any marriage solemnised, 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 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 is was required under section 5 as it stood immediately before the commencement of the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Act, the 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 circumstance 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 solemnised before the commencement of this Act within one year of such commencement and in the case of marriages solemnised 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.
Previous year papers
Pick your exam. we'll email the most recent paper.