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Sapna Negi vs. Chaman Singh and Another

Not available · 2024 INSC 822Decided 24 Oct 2024
Not available
Justice B.R. Gavai · Justice Aravind Kumar · Justice K.V. Viswanathan

Background

The wife had filed a petition seeking to transfer her husband's divorce case (pending before the Family Court in Roorkee, Uttarakhand) to a Family Court in New Delhi. The husband had sought divorce alleging the wife was in a relationship with someone else and had neglected the marriage after taking up a teaching job; the wife said she had been forced to return to her parental home in 2019 because the husband neglected her and their daughter. The couple had not lived together since 2019, and a Supreme Court-referred mediation attempt in 2024 failed, with both sides ultimately admitting before the Court that the marriage had irretrievably broken down.

Decision Breakdown

Rather than simply deciding where the case should be tried, the Supreme Court used its special power under Article 142(1) of the Constitution to do "complete justice" directly, following its own precedent in Shilpa Sailesh v. Varun Sreenivasan, it dissolved the marriage outright on the ground of irretrievable breakdown, since both parties agreed reconciliation was impossible and forcing them through further trial proceedings would only prolong the ordeal. To protect the couple's 8-year-old daughter (who lives with the mother), the Court directed the husband to pay a total of Rs 13,00,000 as permanent alimony for the child's welfare, on top of Rs 7,00,000 already placed in a fixed deposit in her name, and granted a formal decree of divorce.

Lesson Learnt

When a marriage has clearly and irretrievably broken down and both spouses agree there is no chance of reconciliation, the Supreme Court can bypass the normal, slower divorce process and grant a direct decree of divorce under Article 142, provided it also ensures the financial security of any children involved.

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

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