Irretrievable breakdown of marriage 'debatable'

ground for divorce: SC

New Delhi, Nov 22: With the government set to reintroduce the marriage
laws amendment bill in the Lok Sabha to amend the Hindu Marriage Act
and the Special Marriage Act to make irretrievable breakdown of marriage
a ground for divorce, the Supreme Court has urged a rethink if it was an
expedient ground for untying the matrimonial knot.

"It is highly debatable whether, in the Indian situation, where there is

rampant oppression of women, such a ground would at all be expedient,"
said the bench of Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice Prafulla C. Pant in a
recent judgment.

The court hoped that this will be considered by the Lok Sabha.

The Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2013 that was passed by the Rajya
Sabha lapsed before it could be considered by the Lok Sabha, as the lower
house was dissolved upon completion of its term and general elections were
held.

The court said this while restricting its examination of a divorce plea by K.
Srinivas on the ground of alleged cruelty by his wife K. Sunita under the
Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

Srinivas also raised the issue of irretrievable breakdown of the marriage as

a ground for dissolution of the marriage.

Sunita had filed a criminal complaint against Srinivas and seven members
of his family on charges of cruelty, attempt to murder, and other provisions
of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. This resulted in their arrest.

Speaking for the bench, Justice Sen said: "... if this ground (cruelty) is
successfully substantiated by the petitioner (Srinivas), we need not delve
any further i.e. whether a marriage can be dissolved by the trial court or the
high court on the premise that the marriage has irretrievably broken
down..."

Restricting the examination of the divorce plea to cruelty only, the court
said irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a ground for divorce "has not
found statutory acceptance till date".
"Under Article 142 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court has plenary
powers to pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing
complete justice in any case or order pending before it. This power has not
been bestowed by our Constitution on any other Court.

"It is for these reasons that we have confined arguments only to the aspect
of whether the filing of a false criminal complaint sufficiently proves
matrimonial cruelty as would entitle the injured party to claim dissolution
of marriage," the court said.

It said the Law Commission in its reports in 1978 and 2009 recommended
the introduction of irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a ground for its
dissolution, and the amendment bill has received the assent of the Rajya
Sabha.

In an apparent caution, the court said it was "highly debatable whether, in

the Indian situation, where there is rampant oppression of women, such a
ground would at all be expedient".

However, in the instant case, the court granted divorce to Srinivas saying
the complaint filed by Sunita was thrown out by the Hyderabad Mahila
Court June 30, 2000 and the said order has attained finality.

Even before the complaint was declined by the Mahila Court, the
Hyderabad Family Court had Dec 30, 1999 granted Srinivas divorce on the
grounds of cruelty.

The court also said filing of a false complaint by either spouse amounted to
matrimonial cruelty, and it would entitle the other spouse to claim divorce.