Is there any way one can cancel a marriage registration certificate that had been issued on “fabricated” evidence?

The matter assumes significance in the wake of a woman asking for such a cancellation, claiming that her marriage was not solemnized and therefore, the certificate issued on that basis should be cancelled.

In her petition, the 20-year-old woman from Tuticorin had stated that she had been kidnapped from her college by the groom and his family members in Tuticorin and forced to sign some papers, which later turned out to be an application form for registering her marriage, in December 2010. Based on this the groom had managed to secure a marriage certificate from the Registrar of Marriages, Joint-2, Sub Registrar Office, Tuticorin.

The lady, however, remained with her parents in Tuticorin and on August 30, 2011 sent a legal notice to the Registrar demanding cancellation of the certificate. She also lodged a complaint against the groom with the All Woman Police Station, Tuticorin alleging “kidnapping, fabricating false evidence and criminal intimidation.”

She, however, said that no action was taken.

Meanwhile, the groom moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court seeking custody of the woman; but the same was dismissed in September 2011. The court had taken cognizance of the fact that the woman had denied that the marriage was ever solemnized.

Backed by documentary evidence obtained from the Jamia Mosque Executive Committee on September 15, 2011 which stated that the niqah diary had no record of the solemnization of the marriage between the couple, she then approached the District Registrar of Marriages, Tuticorin and the Registrar General of Marriages, Chennai, in October and December, 2011 respectively but once again didn’t get any response.

Finally she approached the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court this month for intervention. However, the judge refused to entertain her petition stating that she should seek remedy from a civil court.