MANBODH KR. PRADHAN Vs. KALPANA PRADHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard the learned Counsel for the appellant as also learned Counsel for the respondents.

(2.) The appellant is aggrieved by the Judgment and Decree dated 13th Feb., 2008, passed by the learned 1st Additional District Judge, Seraikella, in Matrimonial Case No. 13 of 1997, whereby the case filed by the appellant under Sec. 11 of the Hindu Marriage Act, for declaration of the marriage between the parties as void by a decree of nullity of marriage, has been dismissed by the Court below.

(3.) The case of the appellant is that the marriage between the parties was performed on 11.06.1996 in the Temple situated in the premises of Kharsawa Police Station under the pressure of the police and accordingly, the consent of the petitioner appellant was not a valid consent. On this ground the petition was filed for declaration of the marriage as void with a decree of nullity of the marriage. It is an admitted case that after the marriage at the police station on 11.06.1996, the appellant took the respondent No.1 wife to his house and she started living at the house of the appellant, though in a separate room, and the marriage was not consumated, as alleged by the appellant. The suit for nullity of the marriage was filed only on 22.07.1997, i.e., more than lapse of one year of the said marriage.