Gajendra Singh v. Reena Balmiki & Anr.
Background
A husband and wife married in 2006 but separated within about 14 months, in December 2007, with no children from the marriage. The wife obtained maintenance orders under Section 125 CrPC and later under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, while the husband's earlier divorce suit was dismissed and the wife's plea for restitution of conjugal rights was allowed instead. After more than 17 years of separation and continued litigation over maintenance amounts, the husband approached the Supreme Court seeking dissolution of the marriage on the ground of irretrievable breakdown, invoking the Court's special power under Article 142 of the Constitution.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court found that the marriage had irretrievably broken down: the couple had lived apart for over 17 years, had cohabited for barely over a year, had no children, and their relationship had turned adversarial through years of litigation, including a domestic violence case. Applying its power under Article 142 (as explained in Shilpa Sailesh v. Varun Sreenivasan), the Court granted a divorce even though normal divorce grounds under personal law were not separately established. On finances, given the wife's unemployment, the husband's disputed but modest government-lecturer income, and the absence of children to support, the Court fixed a one-time permanent alimony of Rs. 40 lakhs, payable in four monthly instalments of Rs. 10 lakhs each, to fully settle all past and future claims between the parties.
Lesson Learnt
The Supreme Court can grant a divorce directly under Article 142 when a marriage has irretrievably broken down beyond repair, even without going through ordinary matrimonial grounds, and can simultaneously fix a lump-sum permanent alimony to close out all past and future maintenance disputes in one stroke.