PATNA: The Patna High Court in a judgment has annulled the marriage of an Army personnel, who was kidnapped and forced to marry a woman at gunpoint 10 years ago. The verdict is likely to bring down the cases of forced marriage in Bihar, ‘Pakadua Vivah’ in local language.
A division bench comprising Justices P B Bajanthri and Arun Kumar Jha gave the judgment earlier this month, setting aside a three-year-old judgment of the family court in Lakhisarai. The petitioner Ravi Kant, a native of Nawada district, was abducted by the bride’s family on June 30, 2013, when he had gone to Lakhisarai to worship at a temple.
The petitioner had fled from the bride’s house without consummating the marriage and resumed his duty in Jammu and Kashmir. On his return to Bihar on leave, he filed a petition in the family court seeking annulment of the marriage. His petition was dismissed by the family court on January 27, 2020, following which he filed an appeal before the High Court.
The High Court set aside the impugned order observing that the family court took a “flawed” view that the petitioner’s case became “disbelievable” since he did not “immediately” file the suit for annulment of marriage. The court ruled that the petitioner had explained the situation and there was no undue delay.
The court also referred to a Supreme Court judgment according to which no wedding could be valid unless ‘saptapadi’ (seven circumambulations of the consecrated fire) was performed as per Hindu traditions. “The learned family court’s finding that not performing the ritual of ‘saptapadi’ does not mean that marriage has
not been performed, is devoid of any merit,” ordered the High Court.
Bihar has been grappling with the menace of ‘Pakadua Vivah’ for long. According to the State Crime Records Bureau, 7,194 forced marriage cases were reported in the state from January to November 2020; 10,925 in 2019; 10,310 in 2018 and 8,972 in 2017.
Families of prospective brides even take service of criminal gangs to kidnap men and force them into wedlock. A large number of such cases go unreported in view of the fear of these gangs, sources in police headquarters said. Begusarai, Lakhisarai, Munger, Khagaria, Nawada and Patna are considered to be vulnerable for such gangs that are hired by prospective brides’ family members to force the bride grooms into wedlock.