In a significant ruling, the Allahabad High Court clarified that when a marriage is declared null and void under Section 11 of the Hindu Marriage Act, it is considered invalid from the very start. As a result, no legal obligation remains on the husband to provide maintenance to the wife.
The case involved a couple married in February 2015. However, the relationship quickly turned bitter, and the wife filed multiple FIRs alleging harassment and assault under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. During a hearing for anticipatory bail, it was discovered that the wife had been previously married and failed to disclose this fact initially.
"Before passover, the complainant must have come before the court with clean hands and must have informed about her marital status but she did not do the same," noted the Special Judge (CBI), Delhi in a 2016 order.
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The revelation about her existing marital status prompted the husband to approach the family court seeking a declaration that their marriage was void. The Family Court agreed, declaring their marriage null and void in November 2021. The wife appealed this decision, but later withdrew her case, making the family court's order final.
Despite this, the wife pursued maintenance under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. In August 2022, the Civil Judge in Ghaziabad granted her interim maintenance of ₹10,000 per month under Section 23 of the Act. The husband challenged this order in the appellate court, which upheld the maintenance order.
Unhappy with the decision, the husband approached the Allahabad High Court in a criminal revision plea.
After hearing both parties and reviewing the case details, Justice Rajeev Misra delivered the verdict. The Court took note that the wife had knowingly entered into a second marriage while her first marriage was still legally valid, which amounts to polygamy—an act not allowed under Hindu law.
“Since by means of the declaratory decree, the marriage of the parties has been declared null and void, it shall relate back to the date of marriage. The logical outcome... is that once the marriage of the parties itself has been declared void-ab-initio, the subsequent relationship between the parties is of no consequence,” observed the Court.
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The Court stressed that once the marriage is declared void from the beginning, no valid "domestic relationship" as defined under Section 2(f) of the Domestic Violence Act remains. Therefore, the wife could not claim maintenance based on a relationship that, legally, never existed.
As a result, both the interim maintenance order passed by the Civil Judge and the appeal dismissal by the Additional District Judge were set aside.
“There is no relationship between the parties in terms of Section 2(f) of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 since 21.11.2021,” the Court clarified.
The Court concluded that both parties will bear their own legal costs in this matter.
Case Title: Rajeev Sachdeva v. State of U.P. and Another
Case No.: Criminal Revision No. 1351 of 2023
Counsel for Revisionist: Nipun Singh, Sumit Suri
Counsel for Opposite Party: Arvind Kumar Trivedi, Balbeer Singh, Dhruv Kumar Dhuriya, G.A., Saurabh Shukla