PREMI Vs. DAYA RAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against a decree of the learned Senior Subordinate Judge, Bilaspur, whereby the respondent was granted a decree for restitution of conjugal rights, against the appellant, on a petition, under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act.

(2.) The case of the respondent was as follows: The appellant and the respondent had been married on the 16th Kartik, 2016 KB. at Markanda and, thereafter, the appellant had lived with the respondent, as his wife, at his village Basla. Arjun, the brother of the appellant, lodged a false report with the police that the respondent had kidnapped her. Arjun had succeeded, through the help of the police, in securing the custody of the appellant, on the 28th Kartik, 2016 Bk. Since that date, the appellant had withdrawn from the society of the respondent. The police had put up a challan against the respondent but he was acquitted. As the appellant had withdrawn from the society of the respondent without reasonable excuse, he prayed that he be granted a decree for restitution of conjugal rights.

(3.) The appellant contested the petition. She denied that she had contracted any marriage with the respondent. She pleaded that even if it be proved that a marriage ceremony had been gone into between the parties, the marriage was invalid as the appellant was a minor on the date of the marriage and the consent of her guardian was not obtained.