- (1.) Since the claim of the appellant wife that she had repudiated her marriage solemnized before the attainment of 15 years of age, after attaining that age but before attaining the age of 18 years but it was negatived by the Ld. Family Court No.2, Jaipur vide its judgment & decree dt.27.3.2015 in case no.393/2012, she has come in appeal. Some of the indisputed facts which have been found by the Ld. Family Court are that the appellant wife was born on 10.7.1989. The appellant was 10-11 years of age when her marriage took place on 15.6.2001 i.e. before she attained the age of 15 years with the respondent who was major, illeterate and almost 10 years elder to her and as pleaded in the petition for divorce before the Ld. Family Court, she had repudiated her marriage on 27.8.2006 on the day of Ganesh Chaturthi when the respondent's father and elder brother of respondent came to take her, at that time she was 17 years of age. Petition for dissolution of marriage u/S.13(2)(iv) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 came to be filed at the instance of the wife on 25.6.2012 and the only clog to her claim was whether she had caused repudiation of the marriage before attaining the age of 18 years.
(2.) The wife completed her eighteenth year on 10.7.2007 and burden of proof was on her to prove that she had repudiated the marriage before that date. She filed the petition for the purpose of dissolution of marriage i.e. indisputably after crossing the age of 18 years and the act of repudiation, if any, was thus a matter of pleading and proof. As averred in the petition, she was minor and 11 years 11 months of age at the time of her marriage which is alleged to be solemnized on 15.6.2001 and the respondent at that time almost had attained the age of majority and was 10 years elder to her and at the time of marriage of her elder sister with the elder brother of respondent and since her father was no more, the family members pursued to solemnize marriage of the present appellant with the respondent (brother in law of her elder sister) simultaneously and thus both the sisters got married to two reals brothers. The wife stated in paragraph 7 of the petition that she repudiated the marriage on 27.8.2006 on the day of Ganesh Chaturthi when the respondent's father and his elder brother came to take her and she was at that time 17 years of age.
(3.) In reply to the petition filed by the respondent, factum of respondent's father along with his elder brother coming on 27.8.2006 was not disputed and repudiation of marriage by wife has not been specifically denied by the respondent. Apart from it, in para 9 it was further stated that she repudiated the marriage in 2007 and lastly in para 12 of the petition for divorce it was averred that first time respondent Kailash himself came to her home along with his elder brother Sardar and threatened her mother to take her by force and complaint was registered at her instance on 17.6.2011 and the matter was investigated and after recording the statement of appellant herself and mother Prabhati Devi the I.O. took cognizance u/S.107, 116(3) Cr. P.C. whereupon the respondent and his elder brother furnished bail bonds. Lodging of complaint at the instance of appellant wife was admitted in the written statement in para 12 and further respondent DW1 admits in his statement about lodging of police report and in the written statement filed by the respondent there is no where specific denial of repudiation of marriage by the wife but averred that appellant's family members assured him to send the appellant after completion of her studies but so far repudiation of marriage by the appellant wife as averred in the original petition was no where specifically denied in the written statement of the respondent.;