No Point In Persuading Them To Live Together : Supreme Court Dissolves An 'Emotionally Dead' Marriage Invoking Article 142 Powers

The marriage between the parties is emotionally dead and there is no point in persuading them to live together any more, the Supreme Court remarked while it dissolved a marriage invoking its powers Article 142 of the Constitution.

In this case, the husband had filed divorce petition on the ground of cruelty and desertion by wife. The Trial Court dismissed the petition holding that no case of cruelty is made out. The High Court also upheld the dismissal.

Before the Apex Court, the husband submitted that they have been living separately for more than 16 years and for all practical purposes the marriage is dead.  He referred to two judgments viz. Sukhendu Das v. Rita Mukherjee and Munish Kakkar v. Nidhi Kakkar  to submit that the court has, in the past, invoked Article 142 powers to dissolve marriages when they are totally unworkable and irretrievable.

The bench, referring to these judgments noted thus:

"In Sukhendu Das v. Rita Mukherjee (supra), by holding that there was an irretrievable breakdown of marriage, this Court dissolved the marriage between the parties therein by observing that they had been living separately for more than 17 years and no useful purpose would be served by compelling them to live together in matrimony.. To do complete justice between the parties, this Court in Munish Kakkar v. Nidhi Kakkar (supra) put an end to the bitter matrimonial dispute which lingered on for two decades between the parties therein."

In this case, the court noted that the wife has insisted that she is not willing for dissolution of the marriage.

"The marriage between the parties is emotionally dead and there is no point in persuading them to live together any more. Therefore, this is a fit case for exercise of jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution of India", the bench observed.

The bench then declared that the marriage between the parties is dissolved.  

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