ISSUE:
Whether the taking of a debt by a major member of the family for the marriage of a minor member of the family is a debt incurred for a legal necessity or is for illegal purpose?
Whether the debts incurred by the father for satisfying the earlier mortgages should be considered to have been incurred for legal necessity?
Whether the sale for satisfying the earlier mortgage debt of the Joint Hindu Family and for performing the marriage of a minor member of the family was rightly held to be void by the learned first appellate court?
RULE:
"Antecedent debt" means antecedent in fact as well as in time, that is to say, that the debt must be truly independent of and not part of the transaction impeached. A borrowing made on the occasion of the grant of a mortgage is not an antecedent debt.
"The Child Marriage Restraint Act makes punishable the marriage of a minor when performed in India.