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Bhagyashree Bisi vs. Animesh Padhee

Not available · 2025 INSC 1464Decided 18 Dec 2025
Not available
Justice Vikram Nath · Justice Sandeep Mehta

Background

The appellant-wife and respondent-husband married in December 2014. The wife, an Infosys employee who had been living in the US, moved back to India and cohabited with the husband before differences arose and she was later deputed abroad again. In 2022, the husband filed for divorce on the ground of desertion, alleging the wife left the matrimonial home in January 2020 and never returned. The Family Court granted a divorce decree on the ground of desertion, and the High Court of Orissa affirmed it on appeal. The wife challenged this before the Supreme Court, disputing that she had "deserted" her husband, though she was open to divorce by mutual consent.

Decision Breakdown

Before the Supreme Court, both parties agreed that the marriage had irretrievably broken down and were willing to have it dissolved by mutual consent, though the wife objected to the decree being founded on the stigmatizing ground of desertion. The Court set aside the desertion-based finding and instead exercised its special power under Article 142 of the Constitution to dissolve the marriage by mutual consent. Since both parties were financially independent working professionals, the Court fixed a one-time lump-sum payment of Rs. 25 lakh as full and final settlement, including permanent alimony, to be paid within two months, after which all pending matrimonial proceedings between them would stand closed.

Lesson Learnt

The Supreme Court can use its Article 142 power to convert a contested divorce (e.g., on the ground of desertion) into a mutual-consent divorce when both parties agree the marriage has irretrievably broken down, avoiding the need to formally establish fault-based grounds and settling all related claims through a one-time payment.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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