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Mumbai: Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt said he was "extremely relieved" after a Mumbai court on Wednesday said his marriage to Manyata was legal and overruled a lower court's order annulling it.
Hearing a case filed by the bride, the city Sessions Court held that the order passed by the Bandra metropolitan magistrate was not valid as she had been legally separated from her first husband, Mehraj-ul-Rehman.
Mehraj had petitioned the Bandra metropolitan magistrate on February 15 that he married Manyata in 2003 and that their marriage was still valid as he had not divorced her yet.
On appeal from Manyata, the Sessions Court upheld her contention that her marriage to Mehraj was dissolved as she had divorced him through 'khula'.
Additional Sessions Judge S.N. Sardesai ruled that the divorce between Manyata and Mehraj was legal as per the Muslim Marriage Act and a woman was free to marry a person of her choice after getting divorced as per law.
The Bandra magistrate's court had held that as per the Muslim Marriage Act, 1939, a Muslim cleric (qazi) had no power to dissolve a marriage without the husband's consent. It had termed as false Manyata's claim that she and Mehraj were divorced on grounds that there was no substantial evidence to back it.
The Sessions Court also rejected as illegal the magistrate's order asking Sanjay and Manyata to appear before it.
The actor said: "I'm extremely relieved by the court verdict."
The couple had a court marriage in Goa on February 7 and, four days later, tied the knot in Mumbai as per Hindu rituals.
Mehraj, currently behind bars in an extortion case, had claimed that Manyata's marriage with the actor was illegal since she had not yet divorced him.
Meanwhile, Dutt is expected to leave for the US shortly to meet his daughter Trishala.
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