SC moved by woman’s ongoing fight against divorce, says judicial system ‘extremely unwise’ towards her – ThePrint –

New Delhi, Sept 3 (PTI) – The trials and tribulations of a woman waging a protracted legal battle against a family court that repeatedly granted divorce to her estranged husband have moved the Supreme Court, which has described the judicial system as “grossly unwise” towards her.

The woman, who married in 1991, had a son a year later and was abandoned by her husband. He filed for divorce in a family court in Karnataka, which passed divorce decree in her husband's favour not once but three times, despite the fact that he was not paying maintenance to her or their minor child.

The High Court, in the third instance, upheld the decision of the Family Court and granted divorce to the husband on payment of permanent maintenance of Rs 20 lakh. The local court had awarded Rs 25 lakh to the wife.

The story of the marital dispute, which spanned nearly three decades without the wife receiving sufficient money for maintenance, caught the attention of a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan.

The Supreme Court disapproved of the manner in which the Family Court continued to issue divorce decrees.

“After reviewing the file, it appears to us that the justice system has acted grossly unwisely towards the defendant and her now adult minor child. We say this because it was the defendant who subjected the defendant to extreme cruelty for all these years and never provided any assistance to secure a better future for his own son or even offered to pay for his education.

“The mother of the respondent has been residing with her daughter-in-law/respondent all these years and has been taking action against him. The mechanical manner in which the Family Court continued to pass divorce decrees against the petitioner not only shows a lack of sensitivity but also indicates a hidden bias against the petitioner. The courts should not have paid any heed to the offences of the respondent,” the court said.

However, the court stated that it could not ignore the fact that the parties had been living separately since 1992 and therefore confirmed the family court's divorce order with reservations.

The court disapproved of the husband's misdeeds and said that the claim that the marriage had broken down irretrievably could not be used to the advantage of a party who was solely responsible for the “destruction of the marital relationship”. The Supreme Court not only increased the maintenance amount of Rs 2 million by another Rs 1 million, but also ordered that the house currently occupied by the wife, her son and mother-in-law should remain with them and restrained the husband from interfering in the peaceful possession of the property.

“If the respondent owns any other immovable property, the son of the parties shall have preferential ownership rights therein, irrespective of any transfer of ownership by the respondent. This direction is necessary because he (the couple's son) has an inalienable and enforceable right to claim maintenance and a reasonable amount for his school and college education,” the court said.

The Supreme Court declared the orders mandatory and warned the man that failure to comply would automatically make the divorce decree “null and void.”

The man was ordered to pay the maintenance within three months plus seven percent annual interest from August 3, 2006, the date of the first divorce decree.

“If the defendant fails to pay the aforesaid amount to the plaintiff within the stipulated period, the Family Court is directed to take coercive action against him as per law,” the court said in a recent order. PTI MNL SJK MNL SK SK

This report is auto-generated by PTI News Service. ThePrint takes no responsibility for its content.