Under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, in Hindu Marriage bride and bride groom have taken only 2½ (two and…

Under Section 7(2) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, where the customary rites include the saptapadi (the bride and bridegroom jointly taking seven steps before the sacred fire), the marriage becomes complete and binding only when the seventh step is taken. With only two and a half steps taken, the ceremony is incomplete, so in law no valid marriage has come into existence; the marriage is void. It is not valid, and it is not merely voidable, because voidability (Section 12) presupposes a completed marriage; 'illegal' is not the legal category used by the Act.