The Gujarat High Court held that a registered Hindu marriage is invalid without essential ceremonies such as saptapadi. The ruling reinforces that consent and customary rites remain central to a legally binding union.
The Gujarat High Court has ruled that registration by itself cannot validate a Hindu marriage if the customary rites and ceremonies required under law, including ‘saptapadi’, have not been performed.
In an order dated June 23, a division bench of Justices Ilesh Vora and RT Vachhani gave the ruling while hearing an appeal by a UK-based man who had challenged a family court decision refusing to declare an alleged marriage void.
Pausing the family court’s order passed in November last year, the High Court said the performance of essential ceremonies such as saptapadi is the foundation of a Hindu marriage. It noted that saptapadi, or the taking of seven steps jointly by the bridegroom and bride before the sacred fire, gives a marriage its spiritual, social and legal status as a sacrament and samskara.
The case relates to appellant Kaushal Sonar, who said he lives in the United Kingdom while the defendant lives in Ahmedabad. He told the court that he came to know of the alleged marriage only when the woman approached his parents and handed over a marriage certificate claiming to be his lawfully wedded wife.
Sonar said he never solemnised any marriage with her, never performed any Hindu rites and ceremonies, and never lived with her as husband. He also alleged that his signature on the marriage documents had been obtained fraudulently and without his free consent.
The High Court said the family court had erred in dismissing Sonar’s petition, especially when the defendant had clearly admitted before it that no marriage rites or ceremonies were performed between the parties and that the two never shared a husband-wife relationship.
Referring to Section 7 of the Hindu Marriage Act, the court said a Hindu marriage must be solemnised in accordance with customary rites and ceremonies, such as saptapadi, for it to become complete and binding. Since no such rites were performed in this case, the court said, the basic and essential requirement of a Hindu marriage was absent.
In its order, the court also underlined the place of marriage in Hindu law. It said, “In Hindu tradition, a wife is regarded as one-half of her husband (ardhangini), while at the same time being recognised as an individual with her own identity and as an equal partner in the marriage. Under Hindu Law, marriage is considered a sacrament or samskara. It forms the foundation of a new family.”
The bench added that marriage is “not merely an occasion for ‘song and dance’ or ‘wining and dining'” or a commercial transaction, but “a solemn and foundational event” for a man and a woman to enter into a relationship and build a family. It further said, “A marriage is sacred because it creates a lifelong, dignified, equal, consensual, and healthy union between two individuals.”
