A United Kingdom resident discovered he was “married” in India only when a woman arrived at his parents’ home in Ahmedabad, carrying a marriage certificate and claiming to be his wife. Resolving the bizarre dispute, the Gujarat High Court recently ruled that a registration certificate alone does not constitute a valid marriage if customary rites have not been performed.
Allowing the man’s appeal, a division bench of Justice I J Vora and Justice R T Vachhani declared the alleged marriage “null and void ab initio” (never valid). The bench set aside a family court order that had pushed the matter to a full trial, noting that both parties openly admitted no Hindu marriage ceremonies had ever taken place.
“Marriage is not merely an occasion for ‘song and dance’ or ‘wining and dining’. Marriage is not a commercial transaction,” the bench noted.
“When the very foundation of a Hindu marriage, namely the performance of the essential ceremonies, is admittedly absent, the spiritual, social, and legal status that Hindu law grants to marriage as a sacrament and samskara never came into existence.”
The court further clarified that any registration or certificate issued without a ceremony “will have no legal effect and will not create the legal status of husband and wife”.
The appellant had approached the family court under Sections 5, 7 and 12 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, seeking a declaration that the marriage was void. He had contended that he had never married the woman, had never lived with her as husband and wife and that his signatures on marriage-related documents had been obtained fraudulently while he was employed in her father’s company.
In November 2025, the family court refused relief, holding that the existence of a registered marriage certificate raised a presumption of a valid marriage and therefore required a full trial.
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The man’s counsel argued that the family court had “committed a serious error in not acting upon the clear and unambiguous admission” made by the woman in her written statement.
He submitted that when the woman herself had admitted that no Hindu rites and ceremonies were performed and that no lawful marriage was solemnised, there was no justification for directing a full trial, and that the mere existence of a marriage certificate cannot create a valid marriage when the essential ceremonies were never performed.
The woman’s advocate submitted that except for the registration of the marriage, no material had been placed on record to establish that any marriage had been solemnised, and submitted to pass an appropriate order.
Registration vs solemnisation under Hindu Marriage Act
On Section 7 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the court held that “unless the marriage is performed with the necessary customary rites and ceremonies, it cannot be treated as a marriage that has been solemnised under the Act. In the absence of such solemnisation, there is no valid Hindu marriage in the eyes of law, it held.
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The term “solemnised” in Section 7 indicates that a marriage must be conducted properly and with the necessary ceremonies. The court stated that when Saptapadi (seven steps around the sacred fire) is performed, the marriage is considered complete only after the seventh step.
The court order states that registration under Section 8 merely serves to prove a marriage already validly solemnised and that “registration under Section 8 does not, by itself, make a marriage valid or legal if the essential ceremonies required under Section 7 have not been performed”.
The court held that “the existence of a marriage certificate or its registration cannot override, contradict, or nullify the legal effect of her clear admission that no marriage was ever solemnised”.
The court observed that by refusing to act on the admission, the family court has caused injustice to the appellant and has prolonged the litigation without any real benefit. It granted the man the liberty to approach the competent authority for cancellation of the marriage registration and certificate.