NARINDER SINGH MANGAT Vs. HARJINDER KAUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Cm No.2449-CII of 2016

(2.) The appellant has filed this appeal to challenge order dated 12.03.2013 passed by the Additional District Judge, Fatehgarh Sahib dismissing his petition, filed under Section 11 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act').

(3.) Counsel for the appellant submits that the appellant has proved by adducing clear and cogent evidence that at the time of his marriage to the respondent, her marriage to Jasbir Singh was subsisting thereby, rendering her marriage to the appellant a nullity. The respondent has not denied her earlier marriage nor has she produced any judgment and decree, from a court of competent jurisdiction dissolving her marriage to Jasbir Singh. The so called panchayati divorce accepted by the trial court, as sufficient to prove that the first marriage was dissolved, has not been proved. Counsel for the appellant further submits that a marriage can only be dissolved by grant of a decree of divorce under the Act. The failure of the respondent to produce in evidence any judgment and decree dissolving her marriage to Jasbir Singh, entitles the appellant to a declaration that his marriage to the respondent is a nullity.