SC terms bitter matrimonial dispute as battle of Mahabharata, annuls marriage, quashes over 80 cases

New Delhi: Terming a decade-long dispute between estranged spouses as “a matrimonial battle of Mahabharata”, the Supreme Court has provided a "complete quietus" to the bitter legal warfare and annulled the marriage.

Observing that the marriage was "dead for all practical purposes", a bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta invoked its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to dissolve the marriage.

The provision empowers the top court to pass any order in any case to do complete justice.

The bench criticized the husband, a practising advocate, for utilising his legal expertise to launch a "vindictive and vexatious" campaign of over 80 legal proceedings against his wife, her family, and even her legal counsel.

Justice Mehta, who authored the verdict which was delivered on Tuesday, said that the estranged and acrimonious spouses were “embroiled in a longdrawn, bitter matrimonial strife, resulting in multiplicity of litigations instituted across various Courts and forums”.

“We may also note that the respondent-husband has, at every stage, tried to multiply and complicate the proceedings by filing innumerable applications and complaints not only against the appellant-wife and her relatives but also against her advocates. Most of these proceedings appear to be vindictive and vexatious. This clearly indicates a hostile, cantankerous and vindictive approach on part of the respondent-husband…,” the verdict said.

The bench said it could foresee the reason for which the woman would have found it extremely difficult to continue her matrimonial relationship.

“There is no doubt in the mind of this Court that the marriage is dead for all practical purposes and this is a supremely fit case warranting exercise of jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution of India, not only to annul the marriage between the parties but also to terminate all proceedings initiated and pending inter se, including those against the relatives and legal counsels, in order to do complete justice and provide a quietus to this decade-long dispute which has crossed all limits and has assumed the status of a matrimonial battle of Mahabharata,” it said.

To ensure that the wife and the children are not left destitute, the apex court directed the respondent-husband to pay a consolidated sum of Rs 5 crore.

It said the amount would serve as a full and final settlement to cover permanent alimony, past, present, and future maintenance for the wife and children and child support and litigation expenses.

The husband has been given one year to pay the amount, either in a single transaction or in four equal quarterly instalments.

The bench quashed all pending civil, criminal, and miscellaneous proceedings filed by either party against each other and relatives, including all FIRs and complaints.

“The appellant-wife shall be entitled to absolute custody of both the sons. However, the respondent-husband shall be entitled to visitation rights,” it said and fixed the conditions for such visitations.