The Allahabad High Court has ruled that a Hindu marriage cannot be dissolved within one year on the grounds of mutual incompatibility, unless there is exceptional hardship or extreme depravity, as outlined in Section 14 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
The parties had sought a mutual divorce under Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. However, their application was rejected by the Principal Judge of the Family Court in Saharanpur, citing that the minimum waiting period required under Section 14 of the Act had not passed.
The division bench, comprising Justice Ashwini Kumar Mishra and Justice Donadi Ramesh, observed that Section 14 imposes a one-year waiting period from the date of marriage to file for divorce, with the exception that a petition may be considered if there is exceptional hardship or extreme depravity.
In this case, it was noted that, apart from the usual ground of mutual incompatibility, no exceptional circumstances were presented to justify allowing the parties to file for divorce within one year of marriage.
The Court stated that the application demonstrated “no exceptional hardship or extreme depravity” to justify invoking jurisdiction under the proviso to Section 14 of the Act.
It held that a divorce petition may be rejected if no exceptional circumstances or extreme depravity are presented to invoke the proviso to Section 14 of the Act.
The Court remarked:
“The provision contained under Section 14 of the Act has a laudable object to subserve, inasmuch 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.”
Consequently, the court dismissed the appeal against the Family Court’s order, allowing the parties to file a new application once the one-year period has expired.