THE CONSEQUENCES OF PRESERVATION IN LAW OF THE UNWORKABLE MARRIAGE WHICH HAS LONG CEASED TO BE EFFECTIVE ARE BOUND TO BE A SOURCE OF GREATER MISERY FOR THE PARTIES: PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT
This particular decision is upheld by the Punjab and Haryana High Court through he division bench of Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Ashok Kumar Verma in the case of Som Dutt v Babita Rani(FAO-M-118-M of 2004).
FACTS
Parties to the marriage got married in November 1990. As per the appellant-husband, the respondent-wife was suffering from incurable mental illness and used to become violent and beat the children mercilessly and even goes to the extent of attacking the appellant. It was the case of the appellant/husband that the best efforts made by him to get the respondent treated medically did not bear fruits. When the wife deserted the husband without any reason, the Husband filed the plea before the family court. The wife denied that she was suffering from mental illness and ever physically assaulted the children or husband or ever denied them food. Rather, she alleged that her husband had levelled false allegations against her to get divorced and it was him who forced her to leave the matrimonial home.
JUDGEMENT
The court stated that it is well settled that once the parties have separated and separation has continued for a sufficient length of time and anyone of them presented a petition for divorce, it can well be presumed that the marriage has broken down. The Court, no doubt, should seriously make an endeavor to reconcile the parties; yet, if it is found that the breakdown is irreparable, then divorce should not be withheld. The consequences of preservation in law of the unworkable marriage which has long ceased to be effective are bound to be a source of greater misery for the parties. In the present case, the appellant and the respondent are living separately for the last more than 23 years. Firstly efforts were made to resolve the matrimonial dispute through the process of mediation, which is one of the effective mode of alternative mechanism in resolving the personal dispute but the mediation failed between the parties.
JUDGEMENT REVIEWED BY NAISARGIKA MISHRA