Void and Voidable Marriages

Section 11 of the Hindu Marriage Act provides for void marriages which may be declared as a nullity and lays down that void marriages are those marriages which are solemnized in contravention of Clauses (i), (iv) and (v) of Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act.

         Section 12 of the Hindu Marriage Act provides for voidable marriages and that a marriage performed in contravention of the Clause (ii) of Section 5 to be declared as void.         

The marriages performed in violation of the Clauses (i), (ii), (iv) and (v) of Section 5 alone are void or voidable and can be declared a nullity, but not the marriages solemnized in contravention of Clause (iii) of Section 5 of the Act. Therefore, a marriage solemnized in contravention of Clause (iii) of Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act, i.e., before the parties attain the marriageable age, is neither void nor voidable and cannot be declared a nullity. Kamlesh Yadav v. Surmila, 2018 (151) ALR 132.