Courts must not allow litigation to prolong decayed marriages: SC

NEW DELHI: SC has ruled that courts must not allow litigation to prolong a decayed and decomposed marriage, which is a deeply personal and social partnership built on mutual respect, as that would create a “foul sociological, psychological and mental hollowness” in life.

Using its exclusive powers under Art 142 of the Constitution to dissolve the marriage between two govt doctors living separately for 15 years, SC said, “Marriage, in its legal and constitutional dimension, can never be reduced to a mere contractual intersection of individual rights, nor can it be viewed through the narrow lens of a petition for conjugal rights.”

Marriage is a personal and social partnership built on mutual respect, shared expectations and equal responsibility, designed for a couple to weave a tapestry of interdependence that demands balancing of interests, a bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and A G Masih said.

Writing for the court, Justice Masih said, “Conjugal rights do not exist in a vacuum; they are the structural counterparts to conjugal duties. Matrimony is not a one-sided right to be enforced, but a shared covenant of emotional support, fidelity, responsibility and care, where the rights of one are always tied to the duties they owe to the other.” Referring to the case, the bench said intentional maintenance of distinct lifestyles, separate domiciles and total cessation of marital interaction for over 15 years established a de facto abandonment of the marital covenant by both sides.

“When wife and husband have been living separately for over 15 years and all efforts for reconciliation have failed, it will not be possible for the parties to live together,” the bench said, dissolving the marriage under Art 142.