The Supreme Court has said in one of its decisions that the High Court cannot dissolve the marriage between the parties in divorce proceedings on the basis of the principle of irreparable breakdown of marriage. The apex court has also said that the principle of irretrievable breakdown of marriage cannot be used to end the marriage without recording cruelty on the part of the spouse.
Saying this, a bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Bela M Trivedi quashed the Madras High Court order dissolving the marriage of a couple. The High Court had relied on the principle of irretrievable dissolution of marriage to order divorce. The High Court had said that the couple had been living separately for 12 years and forcing them to continue their relationship would mean prolonging their suffering.
The Supreme Court has said in its order, We are of the view that the High Court has committed an error of law in relying on the principle of irretrievable breakdown of marriage to dissolve the marriage between the parties in divorce proceedings. The bench said that the High Court did not give any finding on the allegation of cruelty on the part of the wife, on which the Family Court had reached a specific conclusion. The bench, while setting aside the High Court’s decision, said that for a proper decision of the appeal, it was necessary to conclude on the aspect of cruelty.
Case sent back to High Court
The bench has sent the appeal back to the High Court for a fresh hearing. According to the case, a family court, acting on the man’s petition, passed an order of judicial separation instead of a divorce order. The Family Court concluded that some of the wife’s actions amounted to cruelty. The husband and wife had filed an appeal in the High Court against the order of the Family Court. By a judgment dated March 23, 2022, the High Court dissolved the marriage. The husband said that divorce should have been ordered when the cruelty was discovered. The wife had challenged the order of judicial separation.
High Court did not conclude on cruelty
The Supreme Court observed that the High Court had applied the principle of irretrievable breakdown of marriage in ordering divorce. The bench said, the High Court has considered the evidence in detail but has not come to any conclusion that there was cruelty on the part of the appellant-wife to the respondent-husband. That aspect of the Family Court’s decision was not addressed in the High Court’s decision.
High Court had said, efforts for reconciliation failed
Madras High Court had said in its order that both the parties have been living separately for more than 12 years. He had said that efforts to bring about reconciliation between the two parties failed. As a result, the marriage is over, emotionally and practically. To continue the relationship nominally would be to prolong the suffering and asking to live together would be cruel to both parties. Therefore, we are of the considered opinion that the marriage between the parties has irretrievably broken down and they can no longer live together as husband and wife.
Article 142 was used
The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, in a judgment given last May, had said that it would use its extraordinary power under Article 142 (1) of the Constitution to solemnize those marriages by exempting them from the prescribed procedure and the waiting period under the Hindu Marriage Act. Can break what is irreparably broken.
