HC: ‘Aata-sata’ practice legally, morally bankrupt

Jodhpur: The Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur Monday granted divorce to a woman, overturning a Family Court order that had rejected her plea, and made strong observations against the traditional "aata-sata" marriage practice, describing it as "legally and morally bankrupt" and akin to "marital barter".A division bench of Justice Arun Monga and Justice Sunil Beniwal held that cruelty in matrimonial disputes does not have to be proved "beyond reasonable doubt" as required in criminal trials. The court said such cases are decided on the principle of "preponderance of probabilities". The woman, who was married in Bikaner in 2016, faced challenges when her husband's minor sister was simultaneously married to her brother under the ‘aata-sata' practice. The issues escalated when the minor sister refused to continue with the marriage upon reaching adulthood, which fueled disputes between both families. The woman alleged dowry-related physical and mental cruelty and said she was forced out of her matrimonial home in March 2020 along with her minor daughter. FIR was later registered against the husband and the father-in-law, and police filed a chargesheet. The high court found that the Family Court had erred by conflating the separate family dispute arising from the "aata-sata" arrangement with the woman's allegations of matrimonial cruelty. Setting aside that approach, the bench dissolved the marriage. The woman told the court she was not seeking past or future maintenance for mental peace. Recording her statement, the court granted divorce while clarifying that pending criminal proceedings and child custody issues would continue independently. The court observed that no custom can override statutory law, referring to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006. It added that consent shaped by childhood conditioning cannot be treated as free consent.