The Special Marriage Act regulates interfaith weddings in India. Any fraud marriage registration can be prevented by this Act.

If two persons marry from different customary backgrounds, the Special Marriage Act comes into action to prevent any Fraud marriage registration. The special marriage Act 1954 was introduced with the intention of bringing uniformity to the different rituals of marriage. If a person does a fraud marriage registration under the Act, adequate action must be taken against him.

In India, with a population consisting of various religions, we witness diverse cultural practices and customary rules. To prevail the customs followed by a huge group of people, the constitution of India has recognised some customs and converted them into personal laws.

A marriage under the Special Marriage Act requires certain documents to be produced to prove the associated persons’ eligibility. Most inter-religion marriages are organised in court under the Special Marriage Act. Under this Act, a marriage needed to be solemnised and registered in the registrar’s office, in the presence of the office holder and required witnesses. 

If you want to go for the court marriage but with the religious rituals, you may prefer choosing the Arya samaj marriage. This also requires the necessary documents and witnesses to be produced. Also, if you are already married, you can register for your wedding on the same or any subsequent day.

Often, a party or both parties involved in the marriage perform fraudulently. This fraud or misrepresentation of some facts can attract grave legal consequences. To obtain a valid marital status, all the facts and documents associated with the marriage must be truthfully disclosed before a court of law. In this article, we will discuss the fraud arising from marriage and what are the relative provisions to deal with it.

Requisites for Marriage Registration

As per the Special Marriage Act 1954, some essential criteria are needed to be fulfilled, and some documents must be produced to prove the validity of the marriage. 

• To register the marriage under the Special Marriage Act, you must be eligible for marriage and for giving consent to being a party to it
• The parties must attend the marital age recognised by the law prevalent in India. Which is for the male 21 years of age or more and for female it is 18 years or more. There is a discussion going on to increase the marital age from 18 to 21
•  The parties must have given free consent for marriage without any fraud, cohesion, undue influence, or mistake
• The parties must provide documentation proof of their personal information in a matriculation certificate, PAN card, Aadhar card, or voter card to the sub-registrar
•  The parties must bring at least three witnesses from any side to witness the marriage and testify later
• A witness can be anyone, including family, friends, relatives, or any other person eligible to give witness
• The parties’ signature with the signature of the witness is required for the commencement of the marriage. Check Here to more about: https://www.tn.gov.in/service

The Necessity of Compulsory Registration

In any form of marriage, if a party has acted fraudulently, the other party has to suffer grave consequences. To ensure justice among married couples, the marriage registration certificate is required. 

The marriage registration makes both the parties bound to marry rightfully within the ambit of the law. If any fraud is discovered to have occurred within the marriage, the registration helps the court to decide the case. The marriage registered by fraud becomes void and necessary actions are taken against the party who has caused the fraud if a necessary adequate amount of compensation is provided to the victim.

The Law Commission has proposed to the Law Ministry to make the registration compulsory. The unavailability of records becomes a major part of defense during the acquisition of fraud marriage. To ensure the availability of marital records, registration must be compulsory in every state.

What Frauds Can Take Place

In marriage registration, if any required process or document is produced or done wrongfully to hide certain facts if the other party knows the same points, the marriage shall not commence. Frauds can be of various types.

• If one party or both parties have not attended the eligible age of marriage but present documents that show their marital age as suitable, a fraud is constituted
• If a person represents themselves to have attained the eligible age of marriage to obtain the other party’s consent, it is said that fraud is done
• If a person is previously married and has a living partner without having a divorce but represents himself as unmarried to obtain the consent is considered doing fraud
• If any of the documents are provided fraudulently to the registrar’s office to register the marriage, a fraud is constituted
• If any witness is produced fraudulently by hiding their eligibility to witness the marriage, considered fraud.

Laws to Prevent Fraud in Marriage Registration

Certain provisions are provided by law to prevent fraudulent marriage registrations.

•  As per the Special Marriage Act, the marriage is considered to be void
• Section 496 of the Indian penal code defines marriages obtained fraudulently. If a person to causes fraud marries a person by hiding the necessary facts that decide the commencement of marriage can be legally held liable under this section. Seven years of imprisonment is awarded as punishment under this section
• According to the Act regarding divorce, the decree of annulment is provided by considering the marriage void
• The fraud marriage can also constitute adultery which was earlier considered a punishable offence under section 497 of IPC.

Case Laws Regarding Fraud Marriage

Certain law provisions deal with fraud marriage registrations, and various judgments are given on the related cases. The cases are decided with the help of relevant sections and the judicial mind. Here are some case laws regarding fraud marriage. 

• In the case of Shiekh Altmuddin v Emperor, the accused fraudulently represented himself as unmarried, although he had a previous living wife. The court held the accused liable
• In the case of Kailash Singh v State of Rajasthan, the accused had a previous partner, but it was known to the victim by the accused himself, and the marriage was constituted after that. So the court did not hold the accused liable for fraud in marriage registration.

Conclusion

Marriage should be concluded with the complete transparency of facts; if the facts are not clear enough and if a party knowingly hides the facts necessary to be disclosed, he is considered a fraud. The fraudulent marriages are declared void by the court of law. Go through the above topic and know how the law can help you out if you are involved in a fraudulent marriage registration. If you have any queries reach out to Vakilsearch right now!