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R. Srinivas Kumar v. R. Shametha

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 1128Decided 4 Oct 2019
Civil Appeal No. 4696 of 2013
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul · Justice M.R. Shah

Background

A husband and wife married in 1993 and had a son in 1995, but their relationship broke down and they began living separately. In 1999 the husband filed for divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act on grounds of cruelty, but both the Family Court and the Andhra Pradesh High Court rejected his plea, finding he had not proved cruelty and declining to grant divorce merely for irretrievable breakdown of marriage. The husband then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court noted that the couple had lived apart for over 22 years with no realistic chance of reconciliation, making the marriage "emotionally dead" in substance even though legally intact. While Indian law does not recognise irretrievable breakdown as a statutory ground for divorce, the Court held it could use its special constitutional power under Article 142 to do "complete justice" and dissolve such hopelessly broken marriages, relying on a line of its own precedents (including Naveen Kohli and Sukhendu Das). The Court clarified this power is used only where one spouse refuses consent to a mutual divorce; otherwise parties could simply seek divorce by consent. It dissolved the marriage on condition the husband pay the wife a lump-sum permanent alimony of Rs. 20,00,000.

Lesson Learnt

Even when a marriage does not fit the strict legal grounds for divorce, the Supreme Court can step in using its special constitutional powers to end a marriage that has been dead in all but name for a very long time, but only while ensuring the financially weaker spouse is adequately compensated.

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

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