A voidable marriage is a marriage which is binding and valid and continues to subsist with all its legal consequences until annuled by a court decree. Until such decree is obtained the husband and wife continue to enjoy all rights and obligations which are attached to the statute of marriage. A remarriage by any of the parties without a decree of nullity amounts to bigamy.
Section 12 of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955
(1) An official marriage, whether before or after the commencement of this law, is null and void by a nullity decree for any of the following reasons, namely: –
(A) The defendant was incapable at the time of marriage and remained so until the case was filed; or
(B) That marriage is contrary to the condition stipulated in Section 2 of Section 5; or
(C) That the consent of the petitioner, or where the consent of the guardian in the petitioner’s marriage is required under Article 5, the consent of this guardian was obtained by force or fraud; or
(D) That the defendant was pregnant at the time of marriage by someone other than the petitioner.
(2) Despite anything contained in subsection (1), there is no petition to nullify marriage –
(A) On the land specified in item (c) of subsection (1), it will be disbursed if –
(I) filing the petition more than a year after the force ceased operating, or, as the case may be, fraud was discovered; or
(Ii) If the petitioner has lived, with his full consent, with the other party in marriage as a husband or wife after the force ceased to function or, as the case may be, fraud was discovered;
(B) On the basis specified in Clause (D) of Subsection (1), it will be expired unless the court is convinced –
(I) The petitioner was ignorant of the alleged facts at the time of the marriage;
(2) that the procedures were taken in the case of a formal marriage before the start of this law within one year from the date of the start, and in the case of a formal marriage after this start within one year from the date of the marriage; And
(Iii) That marital intercourse, with the consent of the petitioner, has not occurred since the petitioner discovered the existence of a decree.
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