- (1.) THE present appeal has been filed by the appellant(original non-applicant) under Section 28 of the Hindu Marriage Act(hereinafter referred to as ?the said Act?), against the judgment and decree dated 19.3.2005 passed by the District Judge, Alwar, (hereinafter referred to as ?the trial Court?), in Civil Misc. Application No. 104/2002, whereby the trial Court has allowed the application of the respondent(original-applicant) filed under Section 11 of the said Act.
(2.) THE present respondent (original-applicant) had filed an application before the trial Court under Section 11 of the said Act, seeking declaration that the marriage with the appellant be declared null and void, as the appellant already had a wife when he married to the respondent on 21st July 1999. THE trial Court considering the evidence on record, allowed the said application and declared the said marriage between the parties as null and void. It is submitted by learned counsel Mr. Bhardwaj, for the appellant that the appellant had never married to the respondent and there was no question of declaring any marriage as null and void. He also submitted that the appellant already has a wife named Shanti Devi, who was also examined before the trial Court, and who had stated that no such marriage had taken place between the parties. Mr. Bhardwaj further submitted that the trial Court has merely relied upon the photographs for the purposes of holding that the appellant had married to the respondent, which photographs alone could not be said to be sufficient evidence for holding that the marriage had taken place between the parties as per the Hindu Rites. On the other hand, the learned counsel Mr. Mohit Gupta, for the respondent has submitted that the appellant had married to the respondent suppressing the fact of his earlier marriage and therefore, the trial Court, considering the evidence on record, declared such marriage as null and void in view of Section 5 of the said Act. He also submitted that the respondent has already re-married to some other person and the present appeal has become infructuous. Having regard to the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties and to the impugned order passed by the trial Court, it appears that the trial Court has declared the marriage between the appellant and the respondent as null and void on the ground that the appellant had already a spouse living at the time of the said marriage. It is needless to say that the marriage between the parties could be declared null and void, if it contravened any of the conditions specified in Section 5 of the said Act, one of the conditions being that neither party should have any spouse living at the time of the marriage. Though, it was sought to be submitted by learned counsel for the appellant that no such marriage had taken place between the parties, the trial Court after appreciating the evidence on record had come to the conclusion that the marriage did take place between the parties and the appellant had a spouse living at the time of said marriage. There being no illegality or perversity in the said finding of the trial court, this Court is not inclined to interfere in the same. The appeal being devoid of merits deserves to be dismissed and is accordingly dismissed. All corrections made in the judgment/order have been incorporated in the judgment/order being emailed. ;