Allahabad HC Recommends Incorporation Of Irretrievable Breakdown Of Marriage As Ground For Divorce
The Allahabad High Court recommended the incorporation of irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a ground for the grant of divorce by bringing an amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
The court asked the Ministry of Law and Justice and Law Commission to consider the matter, in view of the observations made by the Supreme Court in Naveen Kohli v. Neelu Kohli.
In the present matter, the Husband filed an Application under Section 13(1)(ia)(ib) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 before the Family Court, Moradabad, which was dismissed. The Husband submitted that the Wife subjected his adopted daughter to mental cruelty and ill-treatment by using filthy and abusive words, and misbehaved with him in front of his friends and relatives. Aggrieved by the impugned judgment of the Family Court, he filed the present Appeal.
The Division Bench of Justice Vivek Kumar Birla and Justice Donadi Ramesh held, “It is known to all concerned with the subject that even after expiry of about 18 years, nothing has been done in this regard. On one hand, the law recognises desertion of a petitioner for a continuous period of not less than two years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition as one of the grounds for grant of divorce, whereas on the other hand, it is not understandable as to why the ground of irretrievable break down is not being recognized as one of the grounds, when the parties are living separately for so many years and in some cases, for decades together.”
Advocate Tanuj Agarwal and Advocate Pankaj Agarwal appeared on behalf of the Appellant-husband.
Consequentially, the Court observed that in the present case, the marriage has irretrievably been broken down. Hence, this case must be construed as a case of ‘mental cruelty’ on the Husband as the marriage is totally unworkable and emotionally dead.
The Court also remarked that the times are changing, and society is becoming more and more open and individualistic, leading to a lesser need for emotional support as well. Whether it is a love marriage or an arranged marriage, all such factors do affect the relationship between the two.
The Court said, “Easily entered marriages like love marriages are also easily resulting in matrimonial dispute between the two. No matter, who is responsible for the same. The parties are not willing to continue such relationship or atleast one party starts living separately. These facts are clearly emerging from our experience, while dealing with the such disputes. There may be so many reasons for living separately, however, on the other hand, there may be or there are several reasons for opposing the divorce petition as well. Hence, when the parties mutually agree for divorce, petition is filed under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act.”
The Court placed its reliance on the landmark Supreme Court judgments of Naveen Kohli v. Neelu Kohli, Samar Ghosh v. Jaya Ghosh, Rajib Kumar Roy v. Sushmita Saha, Rakesh Raman v. Kavita and Prakashchandra Joshi v. Kuntal Prakashchandra Joshi alias Kuntal Visanji.
Accordingly, the judgment passed by the Family Court was set aside and the appeal was allowed.
Cause Title: Col. Manoj Kumar Gupta v. Sangeeta (Neutral Citation: 2024:AHC:37116-DB)
Appearance:
Appellant: Advocates Tanuj Agarwal and Pankaj Agarwal
