In this regard, the learned counsel for respondent/husband placed reliance mainly upon the 3-Judges Bench expression of the Apex Court in Perianal Nadar (Dead) By Lrs. v. Ponnuswami MANU/SC/0361/1970 : AIR 1971 SC 2352, leave about the other expression of Kerala High Court in In. Re: Betsy and Sadanandan MANU/KE/1087/2009 : 2009 (4) KLT 631, in saying intention to convert is enough, in paras-6 to 9 in the controversy as to the wife converted from Christianity to Hinduism, which reads thus:
19. No doubt, from the above expression, no particular ceremony is required and bona fide intention to convert is enough followed by faith and belief in Hinduism for the respondent besides being accepted by the local Hindu community and treatment of him as Hindu to say that he has converted. Here that evidence is lacking, apart from his say of not any bonafide intention to convert, but for unwillingly and only to marry the petitioner for a condition stated imposed of conversion to fulfill and not even stated lived as Hindu."6. It is not necessary to decide in this case whether marriage between a Hindu male and an Indian Christian female may be regarded as valid, for, in our judgment, the finding of the Courts below that Annapazham was converted to Hinduism before her marriage with Perumal is amply supported by evidence. A person may be a Hindu by birth or by conversion. A mere theoretical allegiance to the Hindu faith by a person born in another faith does not convert him into a Hindu, nor is a bare declaration that he is a Hindu sufficient to convert him to Hinduism. But a bona fide intention to be converted to the Hindu faith, accompanied by conduct unequivocally expressing that intention may be sufficient evidence of conversion. No formal ceremony of purification or expiation is necessary to effectuate conversion.7. In Muthusami Mndaliar v. Masilamani alias Subramania Mudaliar I.L.R. 33 Mad. 342 the validity of a marriage according to Hindu rites between a Hindu and a Christian woman fell to be determined. It was held that the marriage contracted according to Hindu rites by a Hindu with a Christian woman, who before marriage is converted to Hinduism, is valid, though the marriage was not in strict accordance with the Hindu system of law. Such a marriage is still common among and recognised as valid by the custom of the caste to which the man belongs.8. In Goona Durgaprasada Rao and another v. Goona Sudarasanaswami and others MANU/TN/0295/1939 : I.L.R. [1940] Mad. 653 Mockett, J., observed that no gesture or declaration may change a man's religion, but when on the facts it appears that a man did change his religion and was accepted by his co- religionists as having changed his religion and lived and died in that religion, absence of some formality cannot negative what is an actual fact.Krishnaswami Ayyangar, J., observed that a Hindu who had converted himself to the Christian faith returned to Hinduism and contracted a second marriage during the lifetime of his first wife and remained and died a Hindu having been accepted as such by the community and co-religionists without demur. Absence of evidence of rituals relating to conversion cannot justify the Court in treating him as having remained a Christian.9. The evidence clearly establishes that the parents of Annapazham arranged the marriage. The marriage was performed according to Hindu rites and ceremonies in the presence of relatives who were invited to attend : customary ceremonies peculiar to a marriage between Hindus were performed : no objection was raised to the marriage and after the marriage Annapazham was accepted by the local Hindu Nadar community as belonging to the Hindu faith, and the plaintiff was also treated as a Hindu. On the evidence there can be no doubt that Annapazham bona fide intended to contract marriage with Perumal. Absence of specific expiatory or purificatory ceremonies will not, in our judgment, be sufficient to hold that she was not converted to Hinduism before the marriage ceremony was performed. The fact that Perumal chose to go through the marriage ceremony according to Hindu rites with Annapazham in the presence of a large number of persons clearly indicates that he accepted that Annapazham was converted to Hinduism before the marriage ceremony was performed."
Thus, at the cost of repetition from what was discussed earlier, when his version is he was as fell in love with her, made to convert as Hindu by adoption to a Hindu family by made to convert; there from there was no voluntary conversion apart from no adoption validly taken place and there was nothing to show any alleged conversion of him besides voluntary with any faith in Hinduism which is the religion of the petitioner, to validate any ceremonies of marriage, not even adduced any evidence of he was accepted as a Hindu by the neighbourhood and the community of Hindus nearby and observing any faith in Hinduism without which there is no valid conversion is the law laid down in Perumal Nadar (supra) and there is no valid conversion from Muslim religion to Hindu religion, the very marriage itself is void ab initio for he is not a Hindu by the time of marriage, and it is a material fact or circumstance relating to him as per Section 12(1)(c) of the H.M. Act to annul the marriage otherwise as per the expression of the Apex Court in Gullapalli Sowria Raj (supra).
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT HYDERABAD
Civil Miscellaneous Appeal No. 28 of 2014
Decided On: 29.09.2015
Shaik Mahammad Rati
Vs.
Grandhi Poorna Seetha Manoja
Coram:
R. Subhash Reddy and Dr. B. Siva Sankara Rao, JJ.
Citation:2017(1) ALLMR(JOURNAL)84
