Doing so would be a mockery of justice… Hindu marriage is not a contract, Allahabad High Court’s decision on divorce

Prayagraj. In an important decision, the Allahabad High Court has said that a Hindu marriage cannot be dissolved like a contract. A Hindu marriage based on scriptural law can be dissolved only under limited circumstances and that too on the basis of evidence presented by the concerned parties. A bench of Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh and Justice Donadi Ramesh, while accepting a woman’s appeal against the dissolution of marriage, said, “Even while granting divorce on the basis of mutual consent, the lower court should have dissolved the marriage only if that mutual consent remained on the date of passing the order.”

The court said, “If the appellant claims that she has withdrawn her consent and this fact has been recorded on record, then the lower court cannot force the appellant to stick to the original consent.” The bench said, “Doing so would be a mockery of justice.” The woman had filed an appeal in the High Court against the decision passed by the Additional District Judge of Bulandshahr in 2011. The Additional District Judge had accepted the divorce petition filed by the woman’s husband.

The parties were married on February 2, 2006. At that time, the husband was serving in the Indian Army. The husband alleged that his wife left him in 2007 and hence he filed a petition in the court to dissolve the marriage in 2008. The wife filed her written statement and said that she was living with her father. During the mediation process, the husband and wife expressed their desire to live separately from each other.

However, while the case was pending, the wife changed her mind and denied the allegations levelled against her, after which mediation was done for the second time, but this mediation also failed as the husband refused to keep the wife with him. However, in the mediation before the army officers, the husband and wife agreed to live together and during this time they also had two children.

The woman’s lawyer, Mahesh Sharma, argued that all these documents and the developments were brought before the court during the hearing of the divorce case, but the lower court accepted the divorce petition on the basis of the first written statement filed by the woman.

Tags: Allahabad high court, Indian army, Marriage Law