ANNULMENT V/S DIVORCE: THE KEY DIFFERENCES
- RELATIONSHIPS
Life&More- 0
- 4 minutes read
Shaili Mazoomdar
In India, two people can either get married under their personal laws, i.e. by performing the religious ceremonies as prescribed under their religion or get married under the provisions of the Special Marriage Act, 1954. For a marriage to be legally valid, there are certain conditions mentioned under the personal laws as well as the Special Marriage Act. If a marriage does not meet all the conditions/ requirements as may be prescribed under the respective laws, the marriage may either be considered void ab initio (under certain circumstances) or voidable at the instance of one of the spouses. If a marriage is voidable one has to obtain a decree of nullity from the relevant Court by preferring a Petition under the relevant sections of law. This process of getting a marriage declared null and void is termed as ‘Annulment’.
The process of divorce is very different from the process of annulment. Divorce deals with ‘dissolution of a legally valid marriage’ while annulment deals with ‘nullity of void and voidable marriage’. While divorce dissolves a marriage which has existed in the eyes of the law, annulment deals with marriages which never existed in eyes of the law due such marriages not having met all the prescribed legal requirements. Annulment, unlike divorce, is retroactive, i.e. a marriage which is annulled is considered never to have existed. While after getting a divorce, parties would be termed as ‘divorcees’, after an annulment, the parties would go back to being spinster/ bachelor.
If, at the time of the marriage, conditions as laid down under the relevant laws are not fulfilled, then such marriage shall not be regarded as a valid marriage. Sections 11 and 12 of the Hindu Marriage Act talk about void and voidable marriages respectively. Similarly, section 25 of the Special Marriage Act provides for conditions under which annulment can be obtained by the aggrieved spouse. Section 30 of the Parsi Marriage And Divorce Act deals with annulment while Sections 18 and 19 of the Indian Divorce Act (which guard the divorces of Christian marriages) provide the recourse of annulment for an aggrieved spouse. Broadly speaking; impotency, invalid consent, fraud, mental unsoundness of mind at the time of marriage, prohibited degree of consanguinity and affinity etc. are grounds for annulment which are common under most laws. However, it is essential for an individual to determine the ground which applies to him/her based on which law governs the marriage.
Divorce, i.e. dissolution of marriage can be obtained either by joint application of both the spouses (often termed as Mutual Consent Divorce) or by a husband/ wife unilaterally applying for divorce on grounds of a matrimonial offense committed against him/ her by the other spouse. Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, Section 27 of the Special Marriage Act, Section 2 of the Muslim Marriages Act, Section 10 of the Indian Divorce Act and Section 32 of the Parsi Marriage Act lay down the grounds for divorce. Broadly speaking, cruelty, desertion, adultery, conversion to another religion (not applicable in case of marriage under Special Marriage Act), mental unsoundness of mind, etc are common grounds for divorces which are provided by various laws.
In a nutshell, in case of divorce, a spouse seeks only to dissolve the bond of marriage and does not challenge the marriage itself. While in a case of an annulment, the aggrieved spouse challenges the validity of the marriage. The aim of annulment is to declare a marriage, which was never valid, as void. While the aim of divorce is to end a valid marriage.
