“When all love and affection has dried up between husband and wife, it becomes a classic example of irretrievable breakdown of marriage”.
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OBSERVING that 12 years of separation is a sufficient time to have sapped all emotions out of a marriage, the Supreme Court recently dissolved a marriage on the grounds that it had been broken down irretrievably.
A two-judge Bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia passed the Order to this effect invoking their inherent power under Article 142 of the Constitution of India.
The Bench was ruling on a petition filed by the husband against the judgment of the Tripura High Court refusing to grant divorce on the ground of cruelty despite noting that the couple had been living separately for more than 10 years.
The couple got married on May 12, 2007, as per the Hindu rites and rituals. The husband resides in Agartala (Tripura) where he is presently posted as deputy general manager (executive engineer on ad hoc basis) in the Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited.
The wife is presently employed as a teacher at Brilliant Stars School in Udaipur, where her parents also reside.
As per the facts of the case, within three years of marriage, the relationship between the couple was beset by a creeping bitterness.
The husband alleged that the wife was disrespectful towards his old parents and gave preference to her job as a teacher, ignoring her household responsibilities.
The wife alleged torture and cruelty, and demands of dowry at the hands of her husband and in-laws, and stated before the courts in no uncertain terms that she could live with her husband only if he came and stayed with her in Udaipur.
The couple have a 12-year-old daughter who lives with the mother.
Earlier, the husband had filed a petition under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 for restitution of conjugal rights before a family court in Agartala which was subsequently transferred to a family court in Udaipur.
The petition was dismissed on August 29, 2013.
An appeal was filed before the high court which was subsequently withdrawn.
Subsequently, the husband filed another petition for dissolution of marriage on grounds of cruelty and desertion before the family court, which was dismissed.
Aggrieved, the husband filed an appeal before the high court, contending living separately as a ground for cruelty, which was also dismissed and it is this Order which is impugned before the Supreme Court.
The Bench interacted with the couple and arrived at the conclusion that it had no doubt that the case was one of irretrievable breakdown of marriage.
“Continued bitterness, dead emotions and long separation, in the given facts and circumstances of a case, can be construed as a case of ‘irretrievable breakdown of marriage’, which is also a facet of ‘cruelty’, the Bench noted, citing precedents.
“Whatever may be the justification for the two living separately, with so much time gone by, any marital love or affection, which may have been between the parties, seems to have dried up. This is a classic case of irretrievable breakdown of marriage,” the Bench noted.
The Bench directed the husband to pay an amount of ₹20,00,000, to be deposited by him in the account of the wife within a period of six months towards the schooling and education of their daughter.
It also directed that the husband would have visitation rights towards his daughter till she attains maturity.
