PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court has ruled that Hindu marriages are sacred and cannot be dissolved like a contract. They can only be legally dissolved in limited circumstances and that too only on the basis of evidence given by both parties.
Allowing the appeal filed by a woman against dissolution of marriage, a bench of Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh and Justice Donadi Ramesh said a court can only grant divorce on mutual consent if that consent remains valid until the final order is passed.
“Once the appellant claimed to have withdrawn her consent and that fact was on the record, it never became open to the court below to force the appellant to abide by the original consent given by her that too almost three years later,” the court said.
The appeal was filed by the woman against the judgment passed by additional district judge, Bulandshahr, in 2011, allowing the divorce petition filed by her husband. The couple got married in Feb 2006.
At that time, the husband was employed with the Indian Army. According to the petition, the woman deserted her husband in 2007. In 2008, the man filed for divorce.
The woman initially agreed but changed her stance However, pending the suit, the woman changed her view and contested the divorce, leading to failed mediation attempts. The husband also refused to live with her. However, in mediation before Army authorities, they agreed to live together, and two children were also born out of wedlock.
The woman’s counsel Mahesh Sharma told the court that all these documents and developments were brought before the court in divorce proceedings but the lower court allowed divorce petition only on the basis of first written statement filed on behalf of the wife which was challenged before the high court.
Based on these observations the high court overturned the lower court order that granted divorce to the couple.
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