A foreign marriage is a void
marriage if:
(i) any of the conditions
specified in section 4 has not been fulfilled.
(ii) If the
respondent was impotent at the time of the marriage and at the time of the
institution of the suit.
If above ground exist a petition may
be presented for decree of nullity in the district court.
This section will not apply if registration of
foreign marriage is in contravention of any condition specified in clause (a)
to (e) of section 15
Where petition can be presented
As per
section 18 of the Foreign Marriage Act, 1969, the petition shall be presented
to the district court within the local limits of whose ordinary civil
jurisdiction -
(a) the
respondent is residing at the time of the presentation of the petition ; or
(b)
the husband and wife last resided together; or
(c) the
petitioner is residing at the time of the presentation of the petition,
provided that the respondent is at that time residing outside India.
Meaning of
District Court
The term
“district court” has the same meaning as in the Special Marriage Act, 1954.
As per section 2(e) of Special Marriage Act,
1954 the "District Court" means:
(i) in any area for which there is a City Civil
Court, and in any other area, the principal Civil Court of original
jurisdiction is situated
(ii) It includes any other Civil Court, which
may be specified by the State Government by notification in the Official
Gazette as having jurisdiction in respect of the matters dealt with in this
Act:
Petitioner
must be residing in India at the time of presenting petition
As per
section 18 (3)(c)
of the Foreign Marriage Act, 1969, court will to grant decree of
nullity of marriage in respect of a void marriage if:
(i) either
of the parties to the marriage is domiciled in India at the time of the
presentation of petition; or
(ii) the
marriage was solemnized under this Act and the Petitioner is residing in India
at the time of presentation of the petition;
Thus the
petitioner must be residing in India for presenting petition.