The Gujarat High Court has held that a Hindu marriage cannot be treated as legally valid merely because a marriage certificate has been issued if the mandatory Hindu rites and ceremonies required under the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA), 1955, such as Saptapadi, have not been performed.
The Division Bench of Justice Ilesh J Vora and Justice RT Vachhani held that registration of marriage was only evidentiary in nature and could not create a valid marital relationship in the absence of lawful solemnisation. A marriage certificate merely served as proof of a marriage that had already been validly solemnised. It could not independently confer the legal status of husband and wife where the essential ceremonies have not been performed.
Examining the scope of Section 7 of HMA, the Court observed that a Hindu marriage must be solemnised in accordance with the customary rites and ceremonies applicable to either party. Where such customary rites include Saptapadi, namely the bride and groom jointly taking seven steps before the sacred fire, the marriage becomes complete and legally binding only upon the completion of the seventh step.
The Bench explained that the expression “solemnised” under Section 7 signifies that the marriage must be performed in the manner recognised by law and in accordance with the prescribed customary ceremonies. In the absence of such solemnisation, no valid Hindu marriage comes into existence in the eyes of law.
The dispute arose from an appeal filed by a man residing in the United Kingdom challenging the Family Court’s refusal to declare an alleged marriage between him and the respondent as null and void.
According to the appellant, he became aware of the alleged marriage only after the respondent approached his parents with a registered marriage certificate claiming that she was his legally wedded wife.
He contended that no marriage had ever been solemnised between them, no Hindu rites or ceremonies had been performed and the parties had never cohabited as husband and wife. He further alleged that while he was employed in a company owned by the respondent’s father, his signatures on marriage-related documents had been obtained fraudulently by inducing him with promises of a promotion or by threatening termination from service.
During the proceedings, the respondent, in her written statement, admitted that no marriage ceremonies had been performed, no lawful marriage had been solemnised and that the parties never shared the legal relationship of husband and wife.
Despite these admissions, the Family Court declined to declare the marriage void, holding that the existence of a registered marriage certificate created a presumption of a valid marriage and that the controversy required adjudication through a full-fledged trial.
Aggrieved by the order, the appellant approached the High Court.
Allowing the appeal, the High Court held that once the respondent herself admitted that the essential ceremonies required for a valid Hindu marriage had never been performed, there was no justification for compelling the parties to undergo prolonged matrimonial litigation.
The Division Bench further clarified that registration under Section 8 of the Hindu Marriage Act merely facilitates the recording and proof of a marriage that has already been validly solemnised. It cannot, by itself, validate an otherwise void marriage or create the legal status of husband and wife where the statutory requirements under Section 7 remain unfulfilled.
While examining the significance of Saptapadi, the Court referred to the Rig Veda and observed that the ritual symbolises companionship, mutual trust, equality and the formation of a lifelong marital bond between the spouses.
Describing a Hindu marriage as a samskara (sacrament), the Bench observed that marriage is not merely a social celebration, an occasion for festivities, or a commercial arrangement. Rather, it is a solemn legal and religious institution through which two individuals voluntarily enter into an equal, consensual and lifelong partnership for establishing a family.
Holding that the mandatory requirements for solemnisation were admittedly absent in the present case, the High Court concluded that the registered marriage certificate could not confer legal validity upon the alleged marriage. The Court accordingly declared the marriage null and void and granted liberty to the appellant to approach the competent statutory authority for cancellation of the marriage registration and the marriage certificate.
The post Gujarat High Court clarifies: Saptapadi is a legal mandate, not just a custom appeared first on India Legal.