There’s a saying that “marriages are made in heaven,” but family courts across the country paint a rather different, more complicated picture. In today’s legal landscape, matrimonial disputes have flooded courtrooms, with spouses battling over maintenance, custody, divorce, and more. But what happens when someone claims to be a spouse—without any valid marriage to begin with?
In a unique and unprecedented case that recently concluded in Belagavi, a 39-year-old highly educated woman with a PhD filed both maintenance and divorce proceedings against a 47-year-old government employee. The twist? The man was never legally married to her.
The man, a government servant, was already entangled in a separate legal battle involving his first wife, with whom he shares two adult children aged 20 and 18. He had obtained a divorce from his first wife at the Dharwad Family Court; however, the decree was challenged and remains under appeal in the Hon’ble High Court at Dharwad.
Seizing on the legal ambiguity, the second woman—who had been in a relationship with the man—filed cases at the Belagavi Family Court in 2021, claiming to be his legally wedded wife. She sought both divorce and maintenance, allegedly with the intent to exploit the man’s stable government service status for financial gain.
The prolonged litigation dragged the man between Dharwad and Belagavi for nearly four years, affecting his career, finances, and peace of mind. However, in a decisive turn of events, leading criminal and family law advocate Siddharthraje Sawant, who represented the man, successfully argued that no legal marriage ever took place between the two individuals. Citing lack of legal proof and procedural lapses, he established before the court that the woman’s claims were baseless.
As a result, the 1st Additional Principal Family Court in Belagavi dismissed both the maintenance and divorce petitions filed by the woman, recognizing them as frivolous and lacking merit.
“This case is a reminder that while courts are meant to deliver justice, the misuse of legal provisions can also cause immense suffering to innocent parties,” said Adv. Sawant after the verdict. “We hope this judgment serves as a deterrent against filing such fabricated cases to harass or extort.”
The case has sparked wider discussion on the need for legal reforms to prevent misuse of family laws and to ensure swift justice for the genuinely aggrieved.
In an era where courtroom battles are fast replacing wedding vows, this judgment reaffirms the legal principle that a marriage must first be proven before one seeks remedies stemming from it.