(1.) The present petitioner is defendant No. 1 in a suit brought by the plaintiff petitioner in the first court of the Munsif at Bankura inter alia for a declaration that on 20th January 1977 or any other date no marriage between him and the defendant No.1 was solemnized according to Hindu Shastras or according to any other law and also a declaration that the child born to the defendant No.1 was not by the loin of the plaintiff. The second prayer in the plaint of the said suit is for a declaration that the entries regarding the said alleged marriage in Bankura Sub-registry Office dated 21st January, 1977 were fraudulent and null and void. The plaintiff opposite party has also prayed for permanent injunction to restrain the defendant no.1 from claiming herself as the married wife of the plaintiff or from asserting that the child to whom she has given birth was born by the loin of the plaintiff. The defendant nos. 1 and 2 have contested the said suit by filing a written statement. They have inter alia pleaded that in fact marriage between the plaintiff and the defendant no.1 was duly solemnized according to Hindu rites and the registration of the said marriage was duly and properly made. The defendants have further averred that the child born to the defendant no.1 was the result of the cohabitation between them. The defendants have further averred that the suit was in substance for annulling the marriage between the parties and, therefore, it was not maintainable in the Munsif's court at Bankura.
(2.) The learned Munsif has answered the issue no.4 relating to his jurisdiction to try the suit in favour of the plaintiff by holding that the reliefs claimed in the plaint were not covered by Ss. 9 and 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act.
(3.) Section 19 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 has inter alia provided that every petition under the said Act shall be presented to the District Court within the local limits of whose ordinary civil jurisdiction: -