Concealment and Fraud in Marriage
As all marriages are based on the foundation of trust, does concealment of a pre-marriage ailment amount to fraud?
Green Card by Marriage Immigration Cases
In the US, for example, frauds pertain mostly to obtaining green card by marriage or marriage immigration cases, as they are popularly called. In India, concealment as a ground for divorce is valid if it amounts to fraud.
Does concealment become reason enough for annulment of a marriage in India? Here are some decisive, landmark rulings from Indian courts to shed light on the subject:
Can Concealment Amount to Fraud in Marriage?
In Ananth Nath v Lajjavatt, it was held that concealment of conditions, such as consumption and syphilis, does not qualify as fraud and hence, these are not grounds for avoiding a marriage. However, concealment of serious pre-marriage conditions and diseases, such as schizophrenia, epilepsy and other incurable venereal diseases, amounts to fraud and can be the basis avoiding or annulling a marriage.
Can Concealment by Parents Amount to Fraud?
Similarly, the landmark ruling in Balbir Kaur v. Maghar Singh, in which the wife concealed her serious limb deformity before marriage, the court held that this amounted to fraud and was a valid ground for nullity of marriage or divorce.
However, the bride’s parents, who despite being well aware of their daughter’s condition and concealed it from the groom, cannot be held guilty of active concealment as they hoped for their daughter’s condition to improve with time, especially after marriage; also, the parents do not owe the responsibility of informing the groom about their daughter’s condition.
Remember, determining the seriousness of a disease is a subjective matter that is specific to each case. However, any condition or disease that hinders proper cohabitation between married couples is considered serious, the concealment of which amounts to fraud and the consequent annulment of marriage.
Nice post, I believe concealing important personal information leads to a lot of problems.
Yes, thank you. We hope to see more suggestions from you so that we can simplify legal information in a very simple way.
Legally yours,
LIG Team
My friend got married and his wife concealed some very important facts of her life. It was arrange marriage and was fixed with Parents involvement from both sides. After marriage they never came together by mind and heart, always used get into arguments every day.
After 10-11 months of marriage my friend discovered that his wife is not observing her menstrual periods at all, not single month she got period. After fights she admitted that from childhood she is not observing menstrual periods, and there is physical problem. Also her parents were involved in serious multiple fraud cases, her dad got years of Imprisonment. After discovering these facts my friend collapsed, his heart was broken and he found himself cheated by her wife and her relatives.
His point is, if the above facts were disclosed before fixing marriage, he would have thought twice before saying “yes” to this marriage proposal, but these facts were deliberately concealed and his consent for marriage was taken fraudulently. Why he would marry to a girl who has physical problem and who is from criminal family background??
Now my friend applied Nullity of marriage case within 1 year of discovering the facts. What do you suggest would he get justice? In return his wife also applied for maintenance (how can she ask for maintenance as she only cheated his husband!!) Who will get justice?
Dear Frnd,
Your frnd can get justice only if he proves in the court that why it took for him one year to apply for nullity as this problem of girl can be found out by boy in a month of marriage. Secondly, criminal background of parents will not help him at all in getting null and void order of marriage.
Wife will not get maintenance as your friend had applied for nullity and not for divorce. and when there is no marriage no point of maintenance arise.
Hope this will clear you.
My friend got married and his wife concealed some very important facts of her life. It was arrange marriage and was fixed with Parents involvement from both sides. After marriage they never came together by mind and heart, always used get into arguments every day.
After 10-11 months of marriage my friend discovered that his wife is not observing her menstrual periods at all, not single month she got period. After fights she admitted that from childhood she is not observing menstrual periods, and there is physical problem. Also her parents were involved in serious multiple fraud cases, her dad got years of Imprisonment. After discovering these facts my friend collapsed, his heart was broken and he found himself cheated by her wife and her relatives.
His point is, if the above facts were disclosed before fixing marriage, he would have thought twice before saying “yes” to this marriage proposal, but these facts were deliberately concealed and his consent for marriage was taken fraudulently. Why he would marry to a girl who has physical problem and who is from criminal family background??
Now my friend applied Nullity of marriage case within 1 year of discovering the facts. What do you suggest would he get justice? In return his wife also applied for maintenance (how can she ask for maintenance as she only cheated his husband!!) Who will get justice?
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