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Neetu Yadav v. Sachin Yadav

Transfer Petition (Civil) · 2020 INSC 569Decided 30 Sept 2020
Transfer Petition (Civil) No. 455 of 2020
Justice V. Ramasubramanian

Background

The wife sought transfer of a divorce case filed by her husband in a Delhi family court to a family court in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, where she and her two young children (then living with her elderly, ailing parents) were based. The husband opposed the transfer, arguing that the wife's family, her retired mother and lawyer brothers, were so influential within the local Indore judiciary (citing, among other things, a brother's Facebook photos from a bar association cricket event) that he would not get a fair hearing there. He offered instead to bear her travel costs to attend hearings in Delhi.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found the husband's "influence" allegations unconvincing, noting that a handful of Facebook photographs showing the wife's brother at a public bar association event did not establish any real likelihood of bias affecting the Indore judiciary. By contrast, it was undisputed that the wife, who was not shown to be employed, lived with her parents and two young children, and would have to travel roughly 800 km to attend hearings in Delhi: a genuine hardship, especially given the children's ages. The Court held it fit and proper to allow the transfer and ordered the divorce case moved from the Delhi family court to the family court in Indore, with case records to be transferred without delay.

Lesson Learnt

In matrimonial transfer petitions, courts give real weight to a spouse's genuine logistical and childcare hardship in travelling long distances for hearings, and vague, weakly-evidenced allegations of a party's "local influence" over the courts will not defeat a transfer request grounded in such hardship.

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

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