CHENNAI: Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled that ‘divorce decrees’ or annulments granted by the ‘Church Courts’ had no legal sanctity, as they were not recognised by the Constitution under the Divorce Act, and marrying a second time without a civil divorce would be bigamy - a criminal offense. A Bench, comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice D Y Chandrachur, made the observation, while hearing a petition from Mangaluru-based Catholic advocate Clarence Pais, seeking an order to make annulments decrees legal in the eyes of the law.
While the Catholic Church does not allow divorce and is known for its strict adherence to the practice, the only option the community is provided with is a “decree of nullity”. However, the decree, or an annulment, is granted only when a couple can provide reasons to prove that the marriage was void from the very beginning or conducted on false basis. “ If there was a forced consent or some kind of cheating during the marriage; if the spouse lied about their impotency; or any other facts of their life that deceived the other person into marrying them, then they would be granted an annulment. But it has to be proven that it wasn’t a proper marriage from the beginning,” said Father J Antony, Judicial Vicar of Chingelput Ecclesiastical Diocese - the “Church Court”.
While it may seem that not many couples approach the diocese for divorce these days, judicial vicars in Tamil Nadu as well as other states say there tables are piling with annulment petitions. This goes to prove that a large number of orthodox couples still wants to be granted an annulment and continues to give the church more importance that civil law. “Getting an annulment from the Church would make Catholics confident that they are not committing any sin. Since the process is conducted in the confines of the Church, it helps the couple maintain their privacy and also the process is less tense, takes lesser time and does not cost any money or forces them to run in and out of courts,” says a priest from the Udupi Ecclesiastical Diocese.
When asked if this new judgment would affect the working of the Ecclesiastical diocese, the clergy said that while they had hoped that the Supreme Court would recognise the Church’s law, the verdict did not change much. Elaborating on the issue, Father Valerian Menzes, Judicial Vicar, Mangaluru Ecclesiastical Diocese, said, “This is how things have been from the beginning, so it does not drastically impact us right now. However, we as a Church also encourage our members to get a civil divorce after we grant the decree of nullity so they do not face any problems in the future.”
The Catholic Church authorities believe that the Supreme Court ruling affects its members more than the Church. “This affects the layman, they are the ones who approach us for an annulment and this new judgment could force couples to run in and out of courts, instead of just approaching the church. Also those who got married after a church annulment could be in trouble now,” explains the priest.
Clarence Pais from Mangaluru, the person who moved the apex court, said that he was representing his client free of charge. “One Godwin D’Souza got married in the Church for the second time after his first wife got an annulment decree within a year of their marriage. Now, after he has had children, who are almost teenagers, his wife is threatening to sue him. It is for people like him and other Catholics who abide by the principles of the Church that I am fighting,” the octogenarian told Express.
While the Church officials said that they stood by Pais’ case and were glad that he took the initiative, but when asked if the Church would put together a forum to approach the court to accept their law as part of civil law, the officials said that no such attempt had been made. “That decision would lay with the highest Church authorities, but nothing seems to be in the pipeline for now,” a priest, who did not want to be named, said.
In his petition, Pais said that the court’s ruling would result in the ecclesiastical diocese, which had been handing out nullity decrees for centuries now, around the country shutting down.
However, the judicial vicars disagree. “Even if an individual manages to get a civil divorce, he/she remains married in the Church records. If they fail to get an annulment from the Church, they will not be able to marry a second time in the Church, we will not accept the marriage,” says Father Menzes, implying that the Catholic judiciary would continue performing its duties without any interference from civil law.
Pais had pleaded before the court to consider his PIL, as there were allegedly many couples that had been granted a “nullity decree” and gone on to marry a second time, all those who are now in danger of imprisonment in case their former spouses decided to take legal action. “I’m gathering statistics to show that there are a large number of citizens who would be negatively impacted by this move. At the next hearing, I will be presenting these numbers to the court,” Pais told Express.