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Family LawSupreme Court of India

Santosh Kumar Mishra v. Neeru Mishra

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 534Decided 17 May 2018
Civil Appeal No. 5629 of 2018
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar

Background

The husband, Santosh Kumar Mishra, had appealed to the Supreme Court after the High Court reversed a trial court decree annulling his marriage to Neeru Mishra. The couple also had multiple other criminal and matrimonial proceedings pending against each other across courts in Kanpur Nagar and before the Allahabad High Court, including cases under Sections 498A, 406, and 417 of the IPC, the Dowry Prohibition Act, the Domestic Violence Act, and the Hindu Marriage Act.

Decision Breakdown

While the appeal was pending, the parties agreed to mediation at the Supreme Court Mediation Centre and reached an amicable settlement, under which the husband paid the wife Rs. 8,50,000 by demand draft. The Court took the signed settlement agreement on record as part of its judgment, directed both parties to strictly abide by its other terms, and accordingly quashed four pending matrimonial/criminal proceedings between them and dismissed seven further proceedings pending before the Allahabad High Court, disposing of the appeal itself in terms of the settlement.

Lesson Learnt

Parties locked in multiple overlapping matrimonial and criminal cases can resolve all of them together through a single court-assisted mediation and settlement, which the Supreme Court will record and enforce by closing out the related litigation across different courts in one stroke.

Santosh Kumar Mishra v. Neeru Mishra – Legal Case Shots | LegalAware