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Sanjay Dutt, Manyata withdraw marriage declaration
29th Feb 2008 09.00 IST
By Agencies

Three weeks after their registered wedding in Goa, Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt and his wife Manyata have withdrawn their joint declaration of marriage after it ran into legal trouble.

South Goa's Salcette Sub registrar's office said the couple on Thursday filed a joint affidavit stating they do not desire to solemnise their marriage under the Portuguese Civil Code, 1867 prevalent in the coastal state.

The declaration filed before Sub Registrar Chandrakant Pissurlekar on February 7 was marred by controversies and allegation of forgeries and was supposed to be confirmed within 90 days. The couple got married as per Hindu rites on February11. Both Dutt and Manyata are previously married.

Within days of the registered marriage, authorities prima facie found that the Goa residence certificate issued by Manyata was questionable and had kept the marriage registration on hold after suspending the certificate.

State authorities are probing how a senior officer like C Pissurlekar accepted from the couple the marriage registration documents that were "full of flaws."

Dutt did not want to comment on the latest development beyond saying "Manyata and I will address the Press at the right time" while his friend and marriage witness Bunty Walia said, "this is the price you pay for being a celebrity."

The couple in their affidavit said they were unaware that Goa is not covered by the Special Marriage Act, 1954 and that marriage in the state is governed by the Portuguese Civil Code, 1867. Both have declared that they intended to get married as per the Special Marriage Act.

"We are now informed that this Act is not extended to the state of Goa," the joint affidavit said. The couple also said that the documents annexed with the joint marriage declaration be treated as withdrawn and cancelled.

The South Goa district administration had also issued show cause notice to Manyata asking her why her certificate should not be cancelled.

In a major lapse, the investigations into the marriage documents revealed that neither Dutt nor Manyata had filed their divorce decree, which is mandatory before accepting the declaration of marriage under Portuguese laws in Goa.

Dutt had attached a `Rojnama' (court notings) from the court of Principal Judge, Bandra family court at Mumbai, which sought to curtail the waiting period of six months before marriage.

Sources said that Principal judge A V Nigude signed the Rojnama in Sanjay Dutt and Rhea Dutt divorce petition on February 6, a day before the couple filed their marriage declaration, had ordered that the divorce decree be drawn.

"It was an order to draw divorce decree. The actual decree should have been attached by Dutt with the documents while filing declaration to get married with Manyata," a state law department official said.

District Registrar P S Borco, who is the investigating officer in the case, in his report to the law department, said the Rojnama submitted by Dutt does not carry signature of the judge and is not attested by the gazetted officer.

"In the present case (Dutt and Manyata), no decree of judgment and order is filed and it is not known whether suit for divorce is completed in both the cases," according to the investigation findings.

Borco has also ruled that "Civil registrar should have refused to accept the declaration of marriage on the grounds that marital status of Manyata in affidavit and residence certificate are contradictory".

"Sub registrar should have insisted for decree of divorce."

During investigations, it was found that Manyata in her residence certificate termed her marital status as 'unmarried' while affidavit shows her as a 'divorcee'.

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