A Hindu wife can file a suit in a civil court for a declaration that the marriage of her husband with a second wife is void.

( 1 ) THIS revision petition arises out of a suit filed by the respondent plaintiff for a declaration that the alleged marriage between the petitioners in this revision petition, who are defendants 1 and 2, is void.

( 2 ) IN the plaint, it is stated that the plaintiff was married to the first defendant eight or nine years prior to suit, i. e. , in 1953or 1954. The plaintiff had an attack of small pox two years prior to suit which probably disfigured her. On account of that, the first defendant married the 2nd defendant on 3oth March, 1962. The suit was filed on 6th April, 1962. It is alleged that the marriage of the first defendant is void under law. Though in the plaint it is not stated that the marriage of the first defendant with the 2nd defendant is void under any particular law, it appears from the order of the lower Court that the stand taken by the plaintiff was that the said marriage is void under section 11 read with section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act; the defendants pleaded that they were married about sixteen or seventeen yeas: prior to suit and that the 2nd defendant herself was the first wife of the first defendant and that the plaintiff was the second wife. It was further pleaded that the; suit at the instance of the plaintiff for a declaration that the marriage of defendants 1 and 2 is void is not maintainable and that, in any view, the suit is to be filed only in the District Court and not in the District Munsif s Court, as all suits, where a question of the validity or otherwise of a Hindu Marriage arises have to be instituted in the District Court under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

( 3 ) ON the above pleadings, the following issues 3 to 6 were framed :" (3) Whether the plaintiff is entitled to get marriage of the defendants 1 and 2 nullified ? (4) Whether this Court has territorial jurisdiction as the marriage took place at Bupparam taluk,. Nirmal ? (5) Whether this Court has legal jurisdiction to entertain this suit in view of the provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act ? (6) Whether the Child Marriage Restraint Act applies to the marriage of the plaintiff or the defendant ? If so, what is the effect ? "

( 4 ) THESE issues were taken up as preliminary issues by the Court below and arguments were heard on those issues. On Issue No. 6, the lower Court reserved its opinion until the evidence is recorded and this was the proper thing for it to do in the circumstances of this case. On Issue No. 4, it found that, since both the defendants reside within the local limits of the jurisdiction of the lower Court, the suit was properly filed in that Court under sub-section (a) of section 20, Civil Procedure Code next, the lower Court considered Issues Nos. 3 and 5 together and held that the plaintiff s suit praying for a decree declaring that the marriage between defendants 1 and 2 is void is maintainable at her instance and also that it could be filed in the lower Court and not in the District Court. The defendants have filed this revision. petition challenging the correctness of those findings of the lower Court.

( 5 ) IT is argued by Mr. Jahangir AH, the learned Counsel for the petitioners that prior to the coming into force of the Hindu Marriage Act, the marriage of a male hindu with a second wife while the first wife is living is not void and it is pointed out that it is only under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 that such a second marriage, while the first wife is living, is void. But the said Act does not give any right to the plaintiff to file a suit of this kind for a declaration that the marriage between her husband and the second wife is void. Therefore, it is contended that the suit itself" was not maintainable. The plaintiff can, if she wants to, file a petition under section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, and get her own marriage dissolved, but she cannot question the validity of the marriage between defendants 1 and 2. In order to see whether the above contention is right, it is necessary to refer to the relev

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