To her surprise she found that the matter had been proceeded with ex parte, without even serving summons to her, showing her address as Flat No.12, 2nd Floor, Kamat Place, Mangoor Hill, Vasco da Gama, Goa, although, it was within the knowledge of the respondent that she numberlonger resided in the said flat.
According to the petitioner, her troubles began thereafter and in the month of February, 2008, she was informed by the respondent and his parents that she had to go to London for companypletion of certain formalities as the marriage registration had number been accepted by the authorities and the marriage was a nullity according to them.
However, on the insistence of the respondent the marriage was performed before the Civil Registrar of Mormugao Taluka, Vasco da Gama, Goa, on 15th November, 2007 and the same was registered in the presence of three witnesses arranged by the respondent.
It was also submitted that the petitioner came back to India in order to companytest the petition filed by the respondent for annulment of the marriage between him and the petitioner in Goa.
On 18th April, 2008, the respondent filed a petition under Section 12 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, for annulment of the marriage, although, the petitioner was then residing in the United Kingdom having been given the status of an Afghan refugee.
The petitioners father who had stayed behind in Kabul on account of his business companymitments till 1992, finally shifted to London where he was granted Afghan Refugee Asylum by the United Kingdom.
The Rokka ceremony was performed at London and the marriage was fixed in New Delhi.
However, between 1989 and 1999, the petitioner and her parents lived in Delhi and it is only in 1999 that the petitioner left for the United Kingdom along with her parents.
It appears that the petitioner met the respondent through her brother in law who were both Merchant Naval Officers and, thereafter, talks of marriage between the petitioner and the respondent were companymenced.
This companypelled her to fight for her rights while staying at Delhi, but it was near impossible to companytest the litigation filed at Goa, as a result of which the petitioner was companypelled to file the present transfer petition.
Several incidents occurred thereafter which caused her to companymute between the United Kingdom and India till finally she took up residence in a rented accommodation in New Delhi.
During the said period the petitioner was served with certain papers from the Court and she had numberoption but to engage a lawyer to obtain a companyy of the petition filed by the respondent to enable her to protect her rights.
The petitioner also discovered that proceedings for declaring her marriage to be a nullity had been companymenced while she was in London and much before she returned to India after her marriage.
Ultimately, on arriving at London, she was informed by the Indian Consulate that since the marriage had been performed within India, the formalities had to be companypleted within India itself.
Till January, 1998, she pursued her primary education in Afghanistan.
While in the United Kingdom, the petitioner started her own business and was self employed and independent till she got married to the respondent in October, 2007.
In May, 2001, the petitioner also migrated to United Kingdom where her parents had been given British Nationality.
Her family shifted to Delhi in the month of February, 1988, where she companytinued to live with her grandparents.
She thereafter companytinued her studies at the Guru Harkrishan Public School, Nanak Piao, Rana Pratap Bagh, Delhi, and companytinued her education there till 1999.
Thereafter, the petitioner along with the respondent shifted to a flat in Kamat Place, Mangoor Hill in Vasco da Gama, Goa.
The respondent is a partner in a companystruction business with his father under the name and style of Tolani Developers at Panaji, Goa.
The case of the petitioner is that she is a Sikh by religion and was born in Kabul in Afghanistan on 16th October, 1984.
Even when the petitioner was in India, she was number informed about the pendency of the said proceedings during her stay between April, 2008 to July, 2008.
Appearing in support of the Transfer Petition, Mr. S.K. Sharma, learned Advocate, submitted that the marriage between the petitioner and the respondent had been companyducted in Goa according to Hindu rites and customs, on 25th October, 2007.
Subsequently, the marriage was registered on 15th November, 2007, also at Goa.
