The Hindu Marriage provide for annulment of the marriage, since its very inception, on grounds such as the non-fulfillment of mandatory conditions.. The Indian Divorce act requires confirmation by the High Court to come into effect. The acts also prescribe that marriages may be annulled by decree if a party willfully refuses to consummate the marriage, or if the wife was pregnant by a person other than the husband at the time of marriage, or if the consent of the parties was procured by coercion or fraud. I have received queries whether this would cover situations of ‘pressure’ and ‘emotional blackmail’ from parents. It would depend on the circumstances. But I doubt the court would accept such a ground if the party was an educated, employed adult and who was otherwise socially independent. Social and religious circumstances surrounding marriage in India do give rise to situations such as these where persons consider themselves bound by parental approval or decisions. Marriages may also be dissolved if the spouse has not been heard of as living for a continuous period of 7 years. The spouse applying for dissolution would have to prove that he or she took adequate steps to seek out the other spouse. All Indian personal laws have provided for grounds for divorce. Some common grounds of divorce are

GROUND ON WHICH MARRIAGE CAN BE DISSOLVED

1. Adultery
2. Cruelty
3. Desertion and failure to maintain
4. Conversion to another religion
5. Incurable mental disorder
6. Incurable mental disorder which may result in abnormally aggressive or irresponsible behavior
7. Virulent and incurable leprosy, or communicable venereal disease not contracted from the party filing the application
8. Renunciation of worldly life

The parties may decide to seek divorce by mutual consent, having decided that they do not want to live together. In such a petition, they need not disclose their reasons for making such a decision. Muslim personal law also grants several options for the husband to seek divorce without approaching the court. The wife would be entitled to maintenance and dower and also to appeal the divorce in court.

JURISDICTION FOR FILLING OF PETITION FOR DIVORCE : An application for divorce may be filed in a court having jurisdiction.

Such a court must be:

• a court capable of entertaining matrimonial cases
• a court that has territorial jurisdiction over the place of marriage, the place where the couple last resided together, and the place where the respondent spouse currently resides. If the respondent resides abroad, then the petition can also be filed in India the place of residence of the petitioner.
• For the decree to be valid, the court must apply the law under which the marriage was solemnized. An appeal against the decree has to be filed in the court having supervisory powers over the first court.

Annulment Of Marriage under Hindu Marriage Act.

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.

Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. With the exception of bigamy and not meeting the minimum age requirement for marriage, it is rarely granted. A marriage can be declared null and void if certain legal requirements were not met at the time of the marriage. If these legal requirements were not met then the marriage is considered to have never existed in the eyes of the law. This process is called annulment. It is very different from divorce in that while a divorce dissolves a marriage that has existed, a marriage that is annulled never existed at all. Thus unlike divorce, it is retroactive: an annulled marriage is considered never to have existed. Grounds For Annulment.

The grounds for a marriage annulment may vary according to the different legal jurisdictions, but are generally limited to fraud, bigamy, blood relationship and mental incompetence including the following:

1. Either spouse was already married to someone else at the time of the marriage in question;
2. Either spouse was too young to be married, or too young without required court or parental consent. (In some cases, such a marriage is still valid if it continues well beyond the younger spouse’s reaching marriageable age);
3. Either spouse was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the marriage;
4. Either spouse was mentally incompetent at the time of the marriage;
5. If the consent to the marriage was based on fraud or force;
6. Either spouse was physically incapable to be married (typically, chronically unable to have sexual intercourse) at the time of the marriage;
7. The marriage is prohibited by law due to the relationship between the parties. This is the “prohibited degree of consanguinity”, or blood relationship between the parties. The most common legal relationship is 2nd cousins; the legality of such relationship between 1st cousins varies around the world.
8. Prisoners sentenced to a term of life imprisonment may not marry.
9. Concealment (e.g. one of the parties concealed a drug addiction, prior criminal record or having a sexually transmitted disease) Divorce on Mutual Consent.

Mutual Consent – Both the spouses are in agreement that divorce cannot be avoided and they both opt for a “no fault” Divorce. Section 28. Divorce by mutual consent Under Special Marriage Act.

1. 1. Subject to the provisions of this Act and to the rules made thereunder, a petition for divorce may be presented to the District Court by both the parties together on the ground that they have been living separately for a period of one year or more, that they have not been able to live together and that they have mutually agreed that the marriage should be dissolved.
   2. On the motion of both the parties made not earlier than six months after the date of the presentation of the petition referred to in sub-section (1) and not later than eighteen months after the said date, if the petition is not withdrawn in the meantime, the District Court shall, on being satisfied, after hearing the parties and after making such inquiry as it thinks fit, that a marriage has been solemnized under this Act and that the avertments in the petition are true, pass a decree declaring the marriage to be dissolved with effect from the date of the decree Section 13-B of Hindu Marriage Act,1955,

Divorce by mutual Consent.

1. 1. 1. Subject to the provisions of this Act a petition for dissolution of marriage by a decree of divorce may be presented to the district court by both the parties to a marriage together, whether such marriage was solemnized before or after the commencement of the Marriage Laws Amendment Act, 1976 , (68 of 1976 .) on the ground that they have been living separately for a period of one year or more, that they have not been able to live together and that thy have mutually agreed that the marriage should be dissolved.
      2. On the motion of both the parties made not earlier than six months after the date of the presentation of the petition referred to in sub- section (1) and not later than eighteen months after the said date, if the petition is not withdrawn in the meantime, the court shall, on being satisfied, after hearing the parties and after making such inquiry as it thinks fit, that a marriage has been solemnized and that the averments in the petition are true, pass a decree of divorce declaring the marriage to be dissolved with effect from the date of the decree.

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