How to file annulment-Nullity of Marriage in India

 Annulment or Nullity of marriage means that the marriage has not happened at all. After getting the annulment or nullity decree, the status of the individual is UNMARRIED/SINGLE,

 Conditions of the annulment of the marriage are:

a.     The marriage has not been consummated ( no sexual relationship has occurred between the husband and wife)

b.    It should not have been in the prohibitive relationships (Husband and wife cannot be as brother and sister, like first or second cousin, or through same father and different mother etc., unless accepted by the caste)

c.     This marriage should not have happened through fraud or force and without the consent of both the individuals to the marriage.

d.    The marriage should not have happened through the concealment of the facts. (like either parties were married before and later divorced, or have a child through previous relationship)

e.    The parties of the marriage should not have the contagious disease which cannot be cured within the specified period of 1 year.

f.      The parties of marriage should not be impotent or have the disease which can be unable to bear the family.

g.    The parties of the marriage should not be of unsound mind.

h. The parties of the marriage should not be in any marriage earlier, and if the marriage has happened, the divorce should have been happened (except for Muslims) before the second marriage.

3 it is mandatory to be filed within one year of the marriage or 1 year from the date when the fraud came into light.

4. The process of annulment is same as other case like divorce or RCR

5. The time taken depends on the co-operation from other party.

What the law Says about Annulment or Nullity of marriage under Hindu marriage Act,1955.

Section 12 of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 deals with

Voidable Marriages- (1) Any marriage solemnized, 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 impotency 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 was required under Section 5 as it stood immediately before the commencement of the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Act, 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 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.