In Brief
The appellant sought to establish that her marriage to Dr. Ashok Kumar Jain, performed in 1992 in a Jain temple, was valid and that his 2001 marriage to another woman was void under the Hindu Marriage Act. The Family Court and High Court dismissed her petition, finding insufficient proof that the first marriage was solemnized with proper Hindu rites. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, holding that Dr. Ashok Kumar Jain's own admissions in his application under Section 9, coupled with the parties' cohabitation and birth of a child, sufficiently proved the first marriage. Since the second marriage was contracted while the first subsisted, it was declared void and the appellant established as the legal wife.
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