‘They marry in 2021 & by 2022…’: SC expresses concern over rising divorce cases

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday voiced deep concern over the current state of matrimonial bonds in the country, observing a troubling trend in which a number of couples were approaching the judiciary without making substantial efforts to uphold their marital commitments or resolve their differences amicably.
A significant influx of petitions related to divorces and quashing criminal cases filed between spouses, the court said, highlights a disturbing pattern. It pointed out that the ease with which couples turn to the courts, often without attempting to live together or reconcile differences, may undermine the very foundation of marital unity and stability.
“We are amazed to see what kind of marriages are taking place now. They marry in 2021; by 2022 and 2023, they are filing cases against each other; and in 2024, we have transfer petitions before us,” said the bench of justices Surya Kant and PS Narasimha as it heard a man’s petition seeking anticipatory bail in a rape case lodged against him in Rajasthan after he allegedly eloped with a girl and got married to her against her parents’ wishes.
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Observing that the issue is not about burdening the legal system, the court said it also reflects shifting societal values. “The institution of marriage is under strain. There is a lot of conflict between the so-called modern values and social and traditional values. They don’t even try. We can understand if they are trying. There are cases where they have lived together for only a few days and want to separate,” lamented the bench.
Justice Kant recollected hearing a case a day ago where a couple did not want to consummate their marriage or live together even for a day. “We failed to understand. You don’t want to live together as husband and wife, why did you marry. There are arguments that we don’t want to consummate the marriage… what kind of marriages are happening?” it said.
Responding, senior counsel Dushyant Dave, who appeared for the man in the case, said that society has to face these testing times. “The very institution of marriage is under severe strain. These are strange times. And so many of such cases are coming from Rajasthan,” he said.
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To this, justice Kant said that he and justice Narasimha, who also heads a different bench in the top court, regularly hear a deluge of such cases that are fundamentally personal and intimate disputes.
In the present case, the court allowed pre-arrest bail for the man, noting that the criminal case may have arisen due to the differences between the two families over their alliance. While Dave proposed an amicable settlement and agreed to withdraw the petition filed by the man for the restitution of conjugal rights, the woman’s lawyer said that the other side is not willing to end criminal proceedings. At this point, the court said that the man may move the Rajasthan high court for getting the first information report (FIR) quashed, and such a plea will be determined on its own merit. At the same time, the bench turned down the police’s request for allowing the custodial interrogation of the man, asserting nobody can be forced to testify against himself and herself in the name of cooperating with the investigators.
In a November 2023 judgment, the top court emphasised that marriage is still considered a pious, spiritual and emotional life-net connecting a husband and wife, and is governed not by the letters of law alone but social norms as well. It said it was undesirable to accept irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a “straitjacket formula” to grant divorce in all cases.
“One should not be oblivious to the fact that the institution of marriage occupies an important place and plays an important role in society. Despite the increasing trend of filing the divorce proceedings in the courts of law, the institution of marriage is still considered to be a pious, spiritual, and invaluable emotional life-net between the husband and the wife in the Indian society,” the judgment authored by justice Bela M Trivedi had said.
While both cruelty and desertion are grounds for divorce under sections 13(1)(ia) and 13(1)(ib) of the Hindu Marriage Act, irretrievable breakdown of marriage is not a ground for divorce under the law, and was conceived by the top court through successive decisions.
A Constitution bench, by its ruling on May 1, 2023, put its stamp of approval on the Supreme Court exercising its extraordinary power under Article 142 to dissolve marriages that become unsalvageable. Public interest lies in dissolving a “dead marriage” when a relationship has been wrecked beyond hope of salvage, the five-judge bench held, ruling that the Supreme Court can grant divorce in the event of “irretrievable breakdown” without sending the parties to a family court, where they must wait for at least six months to obtain by mutual consent or by proving accusations against each other.