E-Paper
Mere discord not enough to annul Church marriage: Bombay HC
The Bombay High Court at Goa has set aside a marriage annulment granted to a man the Church on grounds that the marriage suffered from ‘grave lack of discretion of judgment’ and restored the union after the wife appealed alleging that the annulment was granted on false grounds
The Bombay High Court at Goa has set aside a marriage annulment granted to a man the Church on grounds that the marriage suffered from ‘grave lack of discretion of judgment’ and restored the union after the wife appealed alleging that the annulment was granted on false grounds.
The high court single judge bench of Justice Dama Seshadri Naidu, ruled that “mere difficulty or post-marriage discord” would not amount to ‘grave lack of discretion of judgment’ at the time of consent but rather it must be a severe or grave mental disturbance or disorder, which represses or severely limits an individual’s cognitive ability.”
According to Church Law, also referred to as Canon Law, a marriage can be annulled only on a specific set of reasons -- if both or one of the parties is adjudged to “lack the sufficient use of reason; or suffer from grave lack of discretion of judgment concerning essential matrimonial rights and duties; or who are not capable of assuming the essential obligations of matrimony due to causes of a psychic nature.”
In the present case, the husband sought the annulment on grounds that he was suffering from “a grave lack of discretion of judgment” and the marriage needed to be annulled.
In Goa, owing to the Portuguese civil code, marriages between Catholics are governed under the Canon (Church) Law and the verdicts passed by the Ecclestical (Church) Tribunals are legally and civilly binding. However, the Bombay High Court at Goa in October 2019 struck down a section of the Portuguse Civil Code which had restricted the powers of the high court to supersede the rulings of the ecclestical tribunals, allowing litigants to now approach the high court with marriage disputes.
The case dates back to 2012 when two divorcees, in their mid-40s, Francis and Maria (names changed) were introduced to each other and agreed to get married. Their marriage was solemnised and registered. When they entered this matrimonial bond, they were in their mid-forties. They live happily or normally for a few years. Later, however, there arose certain differences, which, according to the husband, are irreconcilable. So he complained to the Parish Priest, who tried to counsel both the wife and husband; he failed to bring about any reconciliation or rapprochement between them.
The husband then applied for annulment in the marriage before the Ecclestical (Church) Tribunal alleging that “in my heart, I did not want to marry in haste without knowing the girl, but the situation forced me to consent to the marriage… [her] talk was so sweet that I was taken up by her and blindly did what she told me to do”. “She tricked and forced me into this marriage. She did not allow me to think or even consult anybody,” he claimed.
The tribunal granted the annulment on grounds that the woman suffered from “grave lack of Discretion of Judgment”. The wife then appealed before the Metropolitan Tribunal where her appeal was rejecte. She then approached the high court.
“We have seen… what amounts to a ‘grave lack of discretion of judgment concerning essential matrimonial rights and duties which are to be mutually given and accepted’. It must be a severe or grave mental disturbance or disorder, which represses or severely limits an individual’s cognitive ability. That is, the incapacity must be of a psychic or psycho-physical nature. Mere difficulty or post-marriage discord cannot come within the purview of [the relevant section of Canon law],” the high court ruled.
The tribunals, in their judgement annulled the marriage on grounds that the marriage was celebrated without sufficient courtship; that the husband was in a confused state of mind when he consented to the marriage; the wife hurried the marriage; the couple contracted the marriage without due preparation as required by the Church Law; the wife prevented the husband from making satisfactory inquiries about her among other reasons.
But the High court was not amused.
“The reasons the tribunals below have given for allowing the husband to have the marriage annulled simply trivialise a sacrament. Secularly speaking, the decision shocks one’s sense of justice; spiritually speaking, it shocks one’s canonical convictions or conventions,” the high court added.
“‘Consent’ is a voluntary act of a person with no cognitive impairment or psychic abnormalities or shortcomings. Not thinking wisely or not thinking leisurely does not vitiate consent,” the High Court ruled.
The high court then proceeded to set aside an annulment that the Church tribunal had granted with expressing the hope that it “leads to the parties’ reunion.”
