Rinku Baheti Vs Sandesh Sharda (Supreme Court of India)
The Supreme Court considered a transfer petition filed by the petitioner-wife seeking transfer of a divorce petition from the Family Court at Bhopal to the Family Court at Pune. During the proceedings, the respondent-husband filed an application under Article 142(1) of the Constitution seeking dissolution of the marriage on the ground of irretrievable breakdown. Referring to the Constitution Bench judgment in Shilpa Sailesh v. Varun Sreenivasan, the Court reiterated that it possesses the discretion under Article 142 to dissolve a marriage where it is satisfied that the relationship has completely failed and continuation of the legal marital bond is unjustified.
After examining the facts, the Court noted that the parties had a brief period of cohabitation, the respondent had filed successive divorce petitions within a short period after the marriage, and multiple civil and criminal proceedings had been initiated between the parties and their family members. The Court observed that repeated mediation efforts before the Supreme Court Mediation Centre and a retired Supreme Court Judge had failed, and the respondent had categorically stated that he did not wish to continue the marital relationship. It concluded that the marriage had irretrievably broken down and that compelling the parties to continue litigation or remain bound by the marital tie would not serve any purpose. Accordingly, exercising its powers under Article 142(1), the Supreme Court dissolved the marriage.
