Court refuses to annul Karnataka woman’s marriage

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to explicitly declare that consent was essential for the marriage of an adult Hindu woman. The court merely insisted that it was implicit in the law, and only offered to protect a woman who claimed that she had been forcibly married off to an influential politician’s son.

A three-judge bench, led by CJI Dipak Misra, referred to the recent Hadiya judgement to express its inability to annul her marriage. The complainant would have to move a lower court for annulment of her marriage. “We can only help her, protect her,” the CJI said. The bench then issued notices to the Karnataka state authorities and the Delhi police following her complaint that she was forced to drop out of her M Tech course and forcibly married off against her wishes.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising, who was also Hadiya’s counsel, argued on behalf of the woman. She stated that there was no clarity in the law that consent was essential for the marriage of a Hindu adult woman. “This court should declare that consent is a condition of a valid marriage,” she argued. “Then these problems will not arise.”


But the bench observed: “Consent is implicit in several sections of the (Hindu Marriage) Act.” Jaising argued that the woman would have to move a lower court to get her marriage annulled which involves years of litigation.