saptapadi
Under Section 7 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, a Hindu marriage may be solemnised according to the customary rites and ceremonies of either party. Where those rites include the saptapadi, the marriage becomes complete and binding when the seventh step is taken.
Where saptapadi is an essential ceremony under the applicable custom and is not performed, there is no valid marriage. This is important in bigamy prosecutions: in Bhaurao Lokhande the Supreme Court held that the second marriage must be proved to have been solemnised with the essential ceremonies, otherwise there is no offence. Marriages under custom that do not require saptapadi (for example, some forms in South India) are valid without it.
Example
Since the essential rite of saptapadi was not proved, the alleged second marriage was not “solemnised” and the bigamy charge failed.
In Indian law
- Section 7, Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
- Bhaurao Shankar Lokhande v. State of Maharashtra, 1965 INSC 16: a marriage is not solemnised unless the essential ceremonies are performed
See also
marriage · sapinda · nullity of marriage
Read more in the study notes
- Index numbers: meaning, uses, types and steps in construction (Business Statistics)
- Dharma and the sources of Hindu law (Family Law I - Hindu Law)
- Hindu marriage and the conditions of a valid marriage (Family Law I - Hindu Law)
- Human resource planning: process, levels and control (Human Resource Management)
- Answering examinations, working out problems and applying law to facts (Legal Methods)
- Hindu marriage: aims, forms, rites and changes (Sociology - Indian Society Continuity and Change)