- (1.) The respondent in this appeal made an application before the court below under Section 25 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 for annulment of the marriage between herself and her husband the appellant.
(2.) The grounds on which this application was founded were sections 25(i) and (iii). We reproduce the said sections:- "(i) the marriage has not been consummated owing to the wilful refusal of the respondent to consummate the marriage; or (iii) the consent of either party to the marriage was obtained by coercion or fraud, as defined in the Indian Contract Act, 1872(9 of 1872): Provided that, in the case specified in clause (ii), the court shall grant a decree unless it is satisfied, - (a) that the petitioner was at the time of the marriage ignorant of the facts alleged; (b) that proceedings were instituted within a year from the date of the marriage; and (c) that marital intercourse with the consent of the petitioner has taken place since the discovery by the petitioner of the existence of the grounds for a decree: Provided further that in the case specified in clause (iii), the court shall grant a decree if,- (a) proceedings have been instituted within one year after the coercion had ceased or, as the case may be, the fraud had been discovered; or (b) the petitioner has with his or her free consent lived with the other partly to the marriage as husband and wife after the coercion had ceased or, as the case may be, the fraud had been discovered."
(3.) On 10th April, 2014, the Additional District Judge, 3rd Court, Barrackpore, decreed the suit and cancelled the marriage certificate.;