HC annuls ‘marriage’ of woman who said she gave documents for driving licence

The Maharashtra woman, 27, moved a family court, contesting the man’s claim that she was his legally married wife and that they performed nikah at a marriage centre at Amravati in April 2012.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has refused to recognise the marriage of a 27-year-old woman who contested the nikahnama (marriage contract) produced by a 37-year-old man. The woman insisted that she gave the man, a friend of her elder sister, her personal documents to help get her a driving licence but he used them to create false documents to establish that they got married according to Islamic rites and rituals.

The Bombay high court noted that the original nikahnama produced by the Qazi did not match with the carbon copies submitted by the man and such discrepancies “created doubt about the factum of the marriage itself.” (Shutterstock)

The Nagpur bench of the high court on Monday declared the marriage null and void, upholding the finding of the family court in Amravati in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region that there was no concrete and convincing evidence to establish the alleged marriage.

The bench of justices AS Chandurkar and GA Sanap said the family court was right in concluding that on the date of the alleged marriage, Chandrakala Vivah Mandal, the marriage centre where the two were alleged to have been married, was neither registered nor authorised to issue marriage certificates.

The judges also noted that the man only produced what he said were carbon copies of the Nikahnama and ruled that this wasn’t acceptable as evidence of solemnisation of the marriage. The bench also underlined that the original nikahnama produced by the Qazi did not match with the carbon copies and such discrepancies “created doubt about the factum of the marriage itself.”

The woman moved a family court, contesting claims by the man she was his legally married wife and that they performed nikah at a marriage centre at Amravati on April 7, 2012.

She claimed that the man, a friend of her elder sister, used documents given to him for helping obtain a driving license, to create false marriage documents.

The man, on the other hand, claimed that they were in a relationship and on the insistence of the woman they secretly performed marriage at the centre, where she first embraced Islam in presence of a Qazi. He claimed the woman insisted on a ‘secret marriage’ so that her marriage did not impact the marriage prospects of her elder sister.

On August 30, 2018, the family court in Amravati refused to recognise the marriage and ruled that the woman’s legal status would be a maiden or unmarried. The man appealed against the verdict in the high court, which turned down his plea.

“On going through the record and the evidence, we are convinced that Chandrakala Vivah Mandal was neither registered on the date of the marriage nor such vivah mandal was empowered to issue the marriage certificate,” said the bench.

“The moment existence of Chandrakala Vivah Mandal on the date of so called marriage is found illegal, the very basis of the case of the appellant falls to the ground,” the bench added.