Asimkhan Pathan, 37, of India saw his chances of a second marriage shatter after his wife intervened and objected at the office of the marriage registrar.

Pathan had wanted to register his marriage with an Armenian woman, Susanna Petrosyan, and had gone to the marriage registrar’s office in Ahmedabad on November 4 to initiate the procedure, according to The Times of India (TOI).

However, on the form, he put a tick mark on the box claiming his status to be unmarried. Petrosyan declared herself a divorcee.

They wanted to get their marriage registered under the provisions of the Special Marriage Act, and a person with any subsisting previous marriage is not eligible for marriage registration under this law.

The marriage registrar’s office accepted documents from both the parties and issued a public notice, which was pasted in the office granting one month's time to those who have objection to the marriage.

In this case, a woman turned up a week later and filed a lengthy objection to Pathan’s marriage on the ground that he is a married person and she is his legally wedded wife.

This objection required the officials to question the bridegroom about his marital status. When he turned up with the Armenian woman a month later to complete formalities and to obtain the marriage certificate, the officials countered him with his wife’s objection. They also asked why he had declared himself to be unmarried.

This infuriated the bridegroom, who blamed the officials for wrongly relying on false claims made by a third party who claimed to be his wife, and of not following the procedure.

He reminded the officials that they had not questioned anything in this regard earlier.

As the argument heated up, the officials threatened Pathan of filing a complaint against him for false declaration and refused to register his marriage.

Pathan left the office, but not without making a claim that he would return and get his marriage registered in the same office.

However, after this incident, officials in the registrar office also realized their mistake. An official told TOI, “Since then, we have made it mandatory for all parties to declare their marital status on affidavit.”