New Delhi, October 12: The Supreme Court on Tuesday, October 10, denied divorce to an 89-year-old husband from his wife who is about 82 years old despite the fact they have been living separately for many years and all the efforts to bring them together have failed.

TOI reported that a bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Bela M Trivedi said that it would not be desirable to accept the formula of “irretrievable breakdown of marriage” as a strait-jacket formula for the grant of relief of divorce under Article 142 of the Constitution of India. Supreme Court Bench Disagrees on Abortion of 26-Week Pregnancy of Married Woman, Says ‘Woman’s Decision Must Be Respected’.

The top court, in its judgment passed on October 10, said “One should not be oblivious to the fact that the institution of marriage occupies an important place and plays an important role in society”. Supreme Court Imposes Rs 25,000 Costs for Filing 60-Page Synopsis Against Five-Page Allahabad High Court's Order.

The wife had expressed her desire to continue in the marriage and thus the Court refused to grant divorce.

The acrimony in their relationship developed when the husband was posted at Madras in January 1984 and the wife did not join him and preferred to stay initially with the parents of the husband and thereafter with her son.

The case of the husband before the district court was that by refusing to join the husband at Madras, the wife wanted to bring cohabitation permanently to an end without reasonable cause. The Punjab and Haryana High Court, however, held that if the wife did not agree to have herself transferred to Madras, it could not be held that the wife wanted to bring cohabitation permanently to an end without reasonable cause.

The high court ruled out that it was a case of cruelty on the part of the wife. Till January 1984, the relations between the parties were normal. The acrimony in their relationship developed when the husband was posted at Madras in January 1984 and the respondent-wife did not join him. 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 12, 2023 10:27 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).