Zeenews Bureau
Mumbai, March 18: The wedding of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt and wife Manyata on late Tuesday took a ‘U’ turn when Mumbai court Judge null and void the divorce of Manyata and her first husband Meraj-Ur-Rahman.
The court announced that Manyata is still Meraj-Ur-Rahamn’s wife and declared her second marriage null and void as she did not divorce her first husband. If proved that Sanjay married Manyata even after knowing that she has not divorced her first husband, then a case will be registered against Sanjay Dutt.
The court asked the police to make sure that both Sanjay and Manyata appear before the court in person and to issue summon to ensure their presence. The court’s order has come after its 11th March order when they had asked the pair to appear on April 1 but today’s order was more comprehensive and detailed.
Neither Sanjay-Manyata nor their lawyer was available for comment.
Meraj was present in the court today and he asked for the custody of the two and half year old baby from his marriage with Manyata.
Meraj`s advocate had also brought to the court`s notice that the method of divorce adopted, according to Manyata`s statement, was not valid in law unless it was registered before the Family Court.
Meraj`s advocate Tasneem Shaikh on 11th March hearing argued before the court that according to Muslim divorce laws, if the ‘khulla` method (under which a woman approaches her husband for divorce as against man giving `talaq` to his wife) was adopted for divorce, then the husband has to "release" the wife. Also, `khulla` could be challenged in a court of law if the same was not registered.
Earlier, Meraj-Ur-Rahman claimed that he is still married to Manyata and the Qazi (clerk) who annulled their wedding was false. Rehman is currently in the Arthur road prison after he was arrested for sending obscene messages to actresses and models.
Sanjay and Manyata tied the knot in a registered marriage in Goa after which they got married here as per Hindu rituals. However, the first wedding came under the scanner as the Goa marriage registrar`s office sent a show cause notice to Manyata as she had reportedly submitted a fake residential certificate at the time of marriage.
Following the notice, Dutt and Manyata filed an application before the Goa marriage registrar seeking to cancel their marriage, which was accepted by the registrar.
