Validity of remarriage under Hindu Marriage Act: breach of Section 15 proviso does not make the marriage void.

A remarriage contracted before expiry of the one-year period in the proviso to Section 15 of the Hindu Marriage Act is not void. The Act expressly treats only specified marriages as void under Section 11 and separately penalises certain breaches under Section 18, but it does not declare a remarriage in breach of the proviso void or prescribe a penalty for it. The proviso was read as a regulatory restraint delaying remarriage, not as creating a continuing marital incapacity or making the subsequent marriage a nullity. The remarriage therefore remains valid, and the spouse cannot be denied the status of wife or widow on that ground.

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Issues: Whether a marriage solemnised before the expiry of the one-year period in the proviso to Section 15 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 is void or merely irregular.

Analysis: The Act expressly declares certain marriages void under Section 11 and makes specified breaches punishable under Section 18, but it does not expressly declare a marriage in breach of the proviso to Section 15 void nor provide any penalty for its contravention. The scheme of the Act shows that voidness is not to be inferred merely from prohibitory language unless the statute clearly so provides. The proviso was a regulatory restraint intended to postpone remarriage for a limited period and to avoid practical difficulties, but it did not continue the dissolved marital tie or create a residual incapacity that would make a remarriage a nullity. The later deletion of the proviso also supports the view that the breach was not intended to attract the drastic consequence of voidness.

Conclusion: A remarriage contracted in violation of the proviso to Section 15 is not void; it remains valid, and the spouse cannot be denied the status of wife or widow on that ground.

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