Marriage between two Hindus sacrosanct, can't be dissolved within a year: Allahabad High Court

Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has observed that marriage between two Hindus is sacrosanct and it cannot be dissolved within one year of marriage unless there is exceptional hardship or exceptional depravity as provided under the Hindu Marriage Act.

A double-judge bench comprising Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Donadi Ramesh noted that Section 14 provides for a one-year limitation from the date of marriage to file for divorce with the exception that such petition can be entertained if there is exceptional hardship or exception depravity.

The couple -- Nishant Bharadwaj and Rishika Gautam -- had filed for mutual dissolution of marriage under Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. However, it was rejected by the principal judge of the Family Court in Saharanpur on the ground that the minimum period for moving the application as provided under Section 14 of the Act had not elapsed.

In its judgment dated January 15, the division bench dismissed the first appeal filed by Bharadwaj challenging the order of the Family Court, leaving it open for the two parties to move a fresh application after the expiry of the one-year period.

It was observed that except for the routine ground for mutual incompatibility, no exceptional circumstance was shown to exist to allow the parties to file for divorce within one year of marriage.

It said that the application showed "no exceptional hardship or exceptional depravity" to invoke jurisdiction under the proviso to Section 14 of the Act.

The court held that a divorce petition can be rejected where no exceptional circumstance or exceptional depravity has been shown to invoke the proviso to Section 14 of the Act.

"The provision contained under Section 14 of the Act has a laudable object to subserve, in as much as the legislature has put an embargo in entertaining an application for dissolution of marriage, within one year for specific performance. Marriage between two Hindus is sacrosanct and its dissolution would be permissible only for the reasons permissible in law.

"On routine grounds of mutual incompatibility between the parties, it would not be open for the parties to seek exemption from one-year limitation in filing such petition", the court added.