C.A.V. Judgment

Sanjay K. Agrawal, J.

For sake of exposition, this Judgment is divided in following parts:-

The Appeal

1. Invoking the jurisdiction of this Court under Section 19(1) of the Family Courts Act, 1984, the appellant herein/plaintiff has preferred this appeal calling in question legality, validity and correctness of judgment & decree dated 3-1-2024 passed by the Additional Principal Judge, Family Court, Janjgir, District Janjgir-Champa in Civil Suit No.117 A/2023, by which his application for declaring the marriage as null and void under Section 11 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (for short, ‘the Act of 1955’), has been dismissed finding no merit.

(For the sake of convenience, parties hereinafter will be referred as per their status shown and ranking given in the civil suit before the Family Court.)

Quintessential Facts

2. Marriage of the appellant herein/plaintiff was solemnized with the respondent herein/defendant on 20-4-2018 in accordance with the Hindu rites and customs. They firstly started living at Kusmunda and they lived there up to February, 2020 and thereafter, from March, 2020 they lived at Bhathapara, Janjgir. The plaintiff’s mother – Amrika Bai and the defendant’s mother – Parvati Patel both are real sisters as they are born out of the marriage between Gokul Prasad and Urmila. It is the case of the plaintiff/husband that the defendant/ wife after March, 2020, left her matrimonial home and started living with her father pursuant to which societal meeting was called on 14-1-2022 in which customary divorce was granted to them and cash of ₹ 75,000/- along with gold and silver ornaments were given to the defendant/respondent herein. It is the further case of the plaintiff that since the plaintiff’s mother and the defendant’s mother both are real sisters born out of the wedlock of Gokul Prasad and Urmila, their marriage comes within the degree of prohibited relationship as defined under Section 5(iv) of the Act of 1955 and therefore the plaintiff’s marriage with the defendant is void ab initio and as such, decree under Section 11 of the Act of 1955 be granted in his favour and a direction for return of cash of ₹ 75,000/- along with gold and silver ornaments be also issued.

3. The defendant/wife filed written statement admitting the relationship between her mother and the plaintiff’s mother that they both are real sisters and setup the plea of custom in paragraphs 2 and 4 of the written statement, however, denied that their marriage comes within the degree of prohibited relationship as defined under Section 5(iv) of the Act of 1955 and such a marriage between daughter and son of sister-sister, brother-sister and maternal uncle-paternal aunt is prevalent in their society which is called as Brahma marriage, it will not come within the degree of prohibited relationship and the plaintiff knew from the beginning that the defendant is daughter of his mother’s sister and knowing fully well the said fact, marriage was entered between her and the plaintiff and as such, the application for declaring the marriage void be dismissed.

Issues and Findings therein

4. The Family Court framed following issues and answered the issues as under: -