NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has said it would not be desirable to accept the formula of irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a strait-jacket formula for the grant of relief of divorce under Article 142 of the Constitution.
The top court said despite increasing trend of filing divorce cases, marriage is still considered to be a pious, spiritual, and invaluable emotional life-net between the husband and the wife in the Indian society.
Maintaining that marriage is governed not only by the letters of law but by the social norms as well, the court declined a plea by a 89-year-old to grant him divorce on the ground of cruelty, desertion or irretrievable breakdown of marriage.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi dismissed an appeal by a retired Wing Commander to use the court's extraordinary power to do complete justice under Article 142 of the Constitution on the ground of "irretrievable break down of marriage.
The man claimed the parties are living separately for many years but the wife opposed the plea, saying she does not want to die with the stigma of being a divorcee woman.
The man, who first filed a divorce plea in 1996, claimed the wife has not taken his care since he was transferred to Madras in 1984. She also made complaints to the Air Force Authorities against him to malign his image.
The 82-year-old wife, on the other hand, claimed she has taken care of her three children since their marriage in 1963 and still ready and willing to take care of her husband and does not wish to leave him alone at this stage of life.
The bench said there is no dispute that the parties are staying separate since last many years and all the efforts to bring them together have failed.
It said in such circumstances, one may presume that the marriage is emotionally dead and beyond salvation.
However, the bench wondered whether the irretrievable breakdown of marriage should necessarily result into a decree of divorce.
The bench said that this court can depart from the procedure as well as the substantive laws, and exercise its discretion under Article 142 for dissolving the marriage between the parties, in view of the Constitution Bench decision in the case of Shilpa Shailesh vs Varun Sreenivasan (2023).
The Constitution bench had also held such a divorce can be granted even though one of the spouses may opposed it, the bench said.
"However, in our opinion, one should not be oblivious to the fact that the institution of marriage occupies an important place and plays an important role in the society," the bench said.
"So many other relationships stem from and thrive on the matrimonial relationships in the society. Therefore, it would not be desirable to accept the formula of irretrievable break down of marriage as a strait-jacket formula for the grant of relief of divorce under Article 142," the bench added.
The bench held in view the sentiments expressed by the wife, exercising the discretion in favour of the man would rather be doing injustice to her.
