IRIS PAINTAL Vs. AUTAR SINGH PAINTAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Iris Clare Helms, a Christian lady, and Dr. Autar Singh Paintal, a Sikh gentleman, appeared before the Registrar of Marriages appointed under Act No. 3 of 1872 for the District of Dehradun, on 5th Dec., 1949, and, having made, in the presence of the said Registrar of Marriages and in the presence of three credible witnesses, declarations required by Act No. 3 of 1872, got married to each other. The Registrar's certificate of marriage was issued as evidence of that marriage on 5th Dec., 1949.

(2.) After the marriage was thus performed under the Special Marriage Act, 1872 (Act No. 3 of 1872), the two parties to the marriage lived and co-habited with each other at a number of places, inter alia, at Lucknow and at Delhi. Three children were born to the parties, Anita on 3rd Feb., 1953; Priti on 4th Feb., 1960; and Gautam on 22nd Sept., 1961.

(3.) On 17th Mar., 1980 about 30 years after the parties were married, the husband Dr. Autar Singh Paintal filed a petition for divorce under the Special Marriage Act, 1954, as amended by the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Act, 1976 under S. 27(b) and 27(d) of the said Act. Section 51(1) of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 repealed the Special Marriage Act, 1872 and S. 51(2) created a legal fiction whereby all marriages duly solemnized under the Special Marriage Act, 1872 were deemed to have been solemnized under the Special Marriage Act, 1954.