The Apex Court Dissolves A Marriage Invoking Powers Of Article 142; No Reason To Make Them Live Through An Emotionally Dead Marriage

NAME OF THE CASE AND CORAM

• NAME:Subhransu Sarkar Vs Indrani Sarkar (Nee Das)
• CASENO.: CA 5696 of 2021
• CITATION: LL 2021 SC 455
• CORAM: Justice L. Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The husband had filed for a divorce on the basis of domestic cruelty and abandonment issues.
• The wife insisted on not getting the divorce.
• The Supreme Court, however, declined, stating that there was no purpose of coaxing a marriage which had no feelings left.

CASE BACKGROUND

• In this case, the husband, on the basis of abandonment and violence filed for divorce, firstly in the tribunal.
• The Tribunal dismissed the request, concluding that no case of cruelty had been upheld which was also the judgement of the High Court.
• The wife was, however was insisting on rejecting the divorce

CASE PROCCEDINGS

• The Supreme Court noted the emotionlessness in dissolving the marriage by invoking its powers in Article 142 of the Constitution.
• It stated that the marriage between the parties was emotionally dead and it no longer made sense to persuade them to live together.
• In the Apex Court, the husband claimed to have lived apart for over 16 years and stated that all intentions and purposes for the marriage to be workable were dead.
• He referred to two cases, namely Sukhendu Das v. Rita Mukherjee and MunishKakkar v. NidhiKakkar to contend that the court, in the past had invoked the powers of section 142 to dissolve marriages when they were totally irrecoverable.

CASE RELEVANCE

• The court observed that the marriage between the parties was not connected emotionally and it no longer made sense to coax them into living together.
• Therefore, this was a suitable case to exercise the jurisdiction under section 142 of the Indian Constitution to declared the dissolution of the marriage between the parties.

Hope you enjoyed reading this. You may now be able to answer the following questions, let us know in the comments section

• Do you know the cases of Sukhendu Das v. Rita Mukherjee and Munish Kakkar v. Nidhi Kakkar?
• Do you agree with the decision given by the Court? What are your views on it?
• Why did the Tribunal decline his petition for divorce? What could have been the reasons?