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Jatinder Kumar vs Jeewan Lata

Not available · 2025 INSC 1463Decided 18 Dec 2025
Not available
Justice Vikram Nath · Justice Sandeep Mehta

Background

The appellant-husband and respondent-wife, both government school teachers in Punjab, married in 2003 with no children. The husband alleged the marriage was strained and later filed for divorce under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act on grounds of cruelty and desertion. The Trial Court dismissed his petition for failing to prove the allegations, and the High Court of Punjab and Haryana upheld that dismissal. The husband then appealed to the Supreme Court, and the parties, who had been living separately for nearly two decades, appeared in person before the Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found that although the husband had failed to prove cruelty or desertion in the ordinary legal sense, the marriage had indisputably and irretrievably broken down: the couple had lived apart for about twenty years, mediation had failed, and there was no realistic possibility of reconciliation. The Court held that keeping such a dead marriage alive would only prolong both parties' suffering and serve no purpose. Exercising its special power under Article 142 of the Constitution (available only to the Supreme Court, to do complete justice), it granted a decree of divorce, setting aside the High Court and Trial Court orders. The husband agreed to pay ₹15,00,000 as full and final permanent alimony, to be paid within two months, after which the divorce decree would be drawn up, and any pending civil or criminal proceedings between the parties were closed.

Lesson Learnt

Even where a spouse cannot strictly prove cruelty or desertion, the Supreme Court can grant divorce on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage using its special Article 142 powers, a remedy not available in ordinary trial or High Courts, typically coupled with a fair one-time alimony settlement.

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

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