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Jatinder Kumar Sapra vs. Anupama Sapra

Not available · 2024 INSC 382Decided 6 May 2024
Not available
Justice Vikram Nath · Justice Satish Chandra Sharma

Background

The husband and wife married in 1991 and had two children, but their relationship broke down after about 14 years together, with each side alleging cruelty against the other. The husband's petition for divorce on grounds of cruelty was rejected by the Family Court at Faridabad and, on appeal, by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. By the time the matter reached the Supreme Court, the couple had already been living completely separately for 22 years, and their children were now adults.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court appointed a senior counsel to attempt a settlement between the parties, but reconciliation proved impossible. Applying the principles laid down in Shilpa Sailesh v. Varun Sreenivasan (2023), the Court held that the marriage was totally unworkable and emotionally dead, satisfying the threshold for exercising its special power under Article 142 of the Constitution to dissolve a marriage even where the statutory fault ground (cruelty) was not conclusively established. Without commenting on the merits of either side's cruelty allegations, the Court granted a decree of divorce on the ground of irretrievable breakdown, conditioned on the husband paying Rs. 50 lakh as permanent alimony to the wife in five monthly instalments, with the actual divorce decree to be released only after full payment was confirmed.

Lesson Learnt

The Supreme Court can dissolve a marriage that has completely and irretrievably broken down using its special constitutional powers, even when neither party can strictly prove a fault-based ground for divorce, but it will typically tie the decree to fair financial provision being actually paid.

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

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