Divroce
Vasudevan
(Querist) 18 May 2018
This query is : Open
One of my friend daughter has got married and had a girl child of 4 years old. The marriage was conducted in Aug..2011 and the child born in Nov.2013. Thereafter, the husband has deserted and not turned back to see either the child and the wife. There was some dispute in Stridhana between the two families. The where about of the husband is not known right now. It is an hear say news that the husband has gone to some foreign country on employment. The wife is no more interested in continuing the relationship with her husband. The husband permanent address in India is available. Whether the wife can now apply for divorce in the present scnerio?. If so, how the notice/summon be served to the husband in the absence of his present address? Please guide me.
Vijay Raj Mahajan
(Expert) 19 May 2018
In such divorce cases the court summon should be sent to the permanent address of the husband. If the summon are received by his parents or other relatives the service of summon will be considered complete under Order 5 Rule 15 the Civil Procedure Code. The court notice to appear for divorce case can also be sent through valid email address of the husband by the wife or her lawyer or from the official email of the Family/District Court if any, the hard copy of the email and affidavit of the wife with regard to sending the court notice to appear for divorce case to husband should be placed on the case file of the Family Court. The third process for sending court notice to husband is U/O 5 Rule 20 for substituted service through News Paper Publication the permission for the same is given by Court when the opposite party in spite of knowledge of the court case pending fails to appear or avoid to appear for defending it.
After the court is satisfied that the opposite party/husband is not coming to the court for defending the divorce case it will proceed ex-parte against him and decide the divorce case in favour of the wife based on her pleadings and evidence on record before it.
Vasudevan
(Querist) 19 May 2018
Much obliged by the clarification given by the Respectable Expert Shri Vijay Raj Mahajan.
T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate
(Expert) 20 May 2018
The wife can file a contested divorce on the grounds of cruelty and desertion.
She can send the summons to the last known address, if the same is returned continuously, then she can request court for taking steps for substituted service of summons and after that if court permits her to serve the summons through newspaper publication, she may do it and get an exparte decision/judgment subsequently , if he is not turning up after the newspaper publication also.
Vasudevan
(Querist) 21 May 2018
Much obliged by the reply of Shri T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate
Vasudevan
(Querist) 24 January 2019
In continuation of my query, I am to state that the summon was served to his permanent address and the same was received. The husband's father is appearing in the court with power of attorney. The husband never appeared for the past five hearing. The counsel for the husband for the last 3 haring has stated before the court that they are ready to apply for mutual consent for divorce. The court has adjourned the case with narration to file petition for mutual consent. Now my doubt is that whether the husband can contest the divorce violating the submission made by his own counsel. If the husband protracts the process of the court by seeking adjournments through his counsel, what is the remedy may be sought for from the court. Thanks in advance.
