- The Supreme Court granted divorce to a couple after a decade-long dispute resembling a Mahabharata battle
- The husband was ordered to pay Rs 5 crore to the wife, who has custody of their two minor sons
- The wife accused the husband of evading financial support and filing over 80 vexatious legal cases
Terming a decade-long marital dispute as a "Mahabharata-like" battle, the Supreme Court has used its special powers to grant a divorce to an estranged couple and directed the husband to make a one-time payment of Rs 5 crore to the wife, who holds custody of two minor sons. The court said the "marriage is dead for all practical purposes" and is a supremely fit case to exercise its special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to "do complete justice and provide a quietus to this decade-long dispute which has crossed all limits".
What Is The Case
The couple married in 2010 and had two sons in the following years. Their relationship soured over time, leading to a separation in 2016. Since then, the two have been locked in a legal battle. The wife has alleged that the husband has avoided all obligations to support and maintain her and their two children. The wife had been living in a 3 BHK flat at Mumbai's Lokhandwala, which belonged to her father-in-law, and the husband wanted it vacated. The husband, the court noted, filed cases not just against the wife and her relatives, but also against her lawyers.
What The Wife Said
The woman's lawyer told the court that the husband, a practising advocate, misused his legal knowledge and filed more than 80 legal proceedings against her, her family members, and her lawyers. He said the husband repeatedly disobeyed the orders of the Family Court and the High Court regarding payments of maintenance. "It was pointed out that the respondent-husband had been serving as a Director in several companies. However, he conveniently resigned from the said positions with the sole intention to evade his financial obligations," the bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta said in its order. The woman had been working in Kolkata to make ends meet -- a move the husband has flagged -- but is planning to relocate to Mumbai to give her full attention to her elder son, who will soon be promoted to Class X. This move "necessitates adequate and secure financial support from the father".
What The Husband Said
The husband, appearing in person, pointed to the criminal cases his wife filed against him, including the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 and Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, because of which he had to stay in custody for a few days. The husband said this experience was "traumatic, causing him immense mental agony and irreparable loss of professional reputation".
He said his wife has "systematically alienated" his children from him. He also said his wife is a highly qualified professional having substantial income, "yet she has projected herself as destitute to fortify the unjust and inflated claim for maintenance".
"He contended that he has already paid a substantial sum of over Rs. 45 Lakhs to the appellant-wife and his inability to pay the exorbitant maintenance awarded was due to financial constraints aggravated by the false and frivolous litigations instituted by the appellant-wife," the bench said in its order.
What The Court Ruled
Coming down heavily on the husband, the court said he had tried to multiply and complicate the proceedings by filing innumerable applications and complaints. "Most of these proceedings appear to be vindictive and vexatious. This clearly indicates a hostile, cantankerous and vindictive approach on part of the respondent-husband". The court said it can foresee the reason why the wife "would have found it extremely difficult to continue her matrimonial relationship with the respondent husband".
The court said that even if the wife is highly educated and professionally qualified, that by itself "cannot be a reason to absolve the respondent-husband from his matrimonial, paternal, moral andlegal responsibility to provide for his wife and children".
The court said that it finds force in the submission that the husband's "claim of financial incapacity is nothing but a subterfuge to evade his legal and moral obligations".
The court ruled that the marriage will stand dissolved and all pending civil, criminal, and miscellaneous proceedings filed by either party against each other and/or relatives, including all FIRs, complaints, and other applications pending before any Court or forum, shall stand closed.
The wife shall have custody of both sons, but the husband shall have visitation rights. The court asked the husband to pay a consolidated sum of Rs 5 crore to the wife within a year. And it directed the wife to file an undertaking that on receiving Rs 5 crores, she shall peacefully vacate and hand over the possession of the flat owned by the husband's father within two weeks. The husband was also told to give an undertaking that he will not file any further civil or criminalproceedings in any court against the appellant-wife, her relatives or her lawyers.
