Bench:
Justice S.A. Bobde and Justice L. Nageswara Rao
Issue:
What is the scope of the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage to grant divorce under Special Marriage Act,1954?
Facts:
- The appellant- husband married the respondent in 1992 under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. Due to matrimonial discord, they started living separately from 2000.
- The appellant filed for divorce under Section 27 of the Act & made allegations based on her improper behavior towards his ailing father & she deserted him too.
- The trial court observed that the appellant failed to prove cruelty on the part of respondent.
- The appeal in HC was also dismissed stating the irretrievable breakdown of marriage cannot be ground for divorce.
- The appellant filed appeal before the SC seeking divorce.
Appellant’s contentions:
It was contended that the wife deserted the appellant 17 years back. She also caused mental cruelty by threatening the husband of filing a criminal case against him. They are living separately since 2000 as the marriage has irretrievably broken down.
Respondent’s contentions:
Even after serving various notices, the respondent didn’t appear before the Supreme court or before the High Court.
Judgement:
The Supreme Court allowed & dissolved the marriage between the parties.
The court opined that there is an irretrievable breakdown of marriage in this case and there is no possibility for both the parties to live together.
"This Court, in a series of judgments, has exercised its inherent powers under Article 142 of the Constitution for dissolution of a marriage where the Court finds that the marriage is totally unworkable, emotionally dead, beyond salvage and has broken down irretrievably, even if the facts of the case do not provide a ground in law on which the divorce could be granted."
-Para 8 (Sukhendu Das v. Rita Mukherjee)
