BODHIRUPA MUKHERJEE Vs. MILNDA LAHRI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal has been preferred by the plaintiff/wife in a suit filed under Sec. 24 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 (in short "the Act of 1954"), seeking declaration that the marriage solemnized between the parties on December 1, 2021 and registered on June 7, 2022 is void ab initio and for a direction on the Marriage Registrar, Siliguri, to strike off the registration of the marriage from the Marriage Register with immediate effect.

(2.) Despite repeated service, none appears to contest the appeal and as such, the same is taken up for hearing ex parte as per our previous direction.

(3.) The premise of the suit was that the respondent/husband married the appellant herein under Hindu rites and customs on December 1, 2021, which subsequently culminated in a registration under Sec. 13 of the Act of 1954 on June 7, 2022. The said marriage, it is alleged, was solemnized by the husband practicing deception on the appellant inasmuch the respondent/husband suppressed his subsisting previous marriage with a third party (whose name is deliberately not being disclosed here in order to protect her privacy) on November 8, 2018.