Stigma Of Divorce Can’t Be Permitted To Be Hanging On Widow’s Head For Her To Be Denied Of Any Benefit Of Being Ex-Serviceman’s Spouse: Karnataka HC
The Karnataka High Court remarked that the stigma of divorce cannot be permitted to be permitted to be hanging on the head of the widow for her to be denied of any benefit, of being a spouse of ex-serviceman.
The Court was dealing with a writ petition filed by a widow aged 52 years seeking a direction of issuance of a writ of mandamus to the Joint Director, The Sainik Welfare and Resettlement to issue widow identity card in her favour in terms of the representation.
A Single Bench of Justice M. Nagaprasanna said, “Viewed from any angle, the stigma of divorce cannot be permitted to be hanging on the head of the petitioner for her to be denied of any benefit, of being a spouse of ex-serviceman. No impediment can now be projected against the petitioner for grant of an identity card by the respondents.”
Advocate Sreerangaiah L. appeared on behalf of the petitioner while Deputy Solicitor General of India H. Shanthi Bhushan appeared on behalf of the respondent.
Facts of the Case -
The petitioner was the wife of an ex-service personnel and she got married to him in 1987 and from the wedlock, they had a girl child born. Her husband at the time of marriage was serving in the Indian Army and she lived in the matrimonial house along with the father and mother of the husband. The husband used to visit the house once in a year for close to two months and things went on well till the husband submitted his resignation to the Indian Army and came out of the military service in the year 2006. After the husband resigned the job and came to the matrimonial house, the problems began between the husband and wife. It was the case of the petitioner that the husband used to pick up quarrel unnecessarily and when it became difficult to sustain, she registered a complaint against the husband and his family members for several offences. On the registration of complaint against the husband and his family members, the husband instituted a suit invoking Section 13(1)(ia) & (ib) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (HMA) seeking dissolution of marriage, which had taken place 30 years ago.
The concerned family Court issued notice once and on the ground that the wife did not appear before the Court, it granted an ex-parte decree of divorce. This was not known to the petitioner and when she got the knowledge, she filed an application before the concerned Court under Order IX Rule 13 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) seeking recall of the ex-parte decree. The application was pending consideration before the concerned court and during the pendency of the application, before the decree could be recalled, the husband of the petitioner died. On the death of the husband, an application was filed seeking to dismiss the suit holding it to be abated. The concerned court closed the petition by dismissing the petition as abated and therefore, there was no decree of divorce that was hanging on the head of the petitioner. In that light, the petitioner submitted a representation to respondent seeking grant of an identity card being a widow of an ex-service personnel but the same was not granted. It was this action due to which she approached the High Court.
The High Court in view the above facts observed, “The Apex Court elucidates the issue of a stigma of divorce hanging over the head of the wife; its serious effects and consequences upon a decree of divorce. The Apex Court holds that the offending spouse would be alleged of matrimonial misconducts or incapabilities and such a spouse will have to live with a stigma for the rest of her / his life which will have a pernicious consequence, both social and legal and if a decree an exparte or bipartite is permitted to stand without an opportunity to challenge, this would lead to dire consequences.”
The Court added that the case also projects a similar circumstance of an ex-parte decree of divorce against the wife and the husband dying during the pendency of the application, seeking recall of the ex-parte decree and that the petition later closed on account of the death of the husband.
“Grant of an identity card for being widow of an ex serviceman, guarantees certain benefits to a widow. What the respondent ought to have had is, lots of empathy and little of sympathy towards the petitioner, as on the death of the husband, the sole bread winner of the family, the wife and family are driven to grave, impecuniosities and would be condemned by penury. The plight and plea of the widow is blissfully ignored by the respondent; the respondent ought to have, without driving the petitioner to this Court, issued a widow identity card, as was sought for. This Court would not shut its doors in the peculiar facts of this case without redressing the invisible pain of the widow – petitioner”, it emphasised.
The Court, therefore, directed to issue mandamus writ to the respondent to issue the widow identity card to the petitioner within two weeks and declared that she is entitled to all consequential benefits that would flow from the grant of the identity card.
Accordingly, the High Court allowed the writ petition.
Cause Title- Parvathamma v. The Joint Director The Sainik Welfare and Resettlement (Neutral Citation: 2024:KHC:11923)
