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New Delhi: The Delhi High Court, while granting divorce to a woman, said that marriage without exchange of feelings is just a legal bond. A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh, in its December 3 order, said, “It is not that every marriage, where the couple lives separately from each other by consent for work or other obligations, is broken.”
The court said that the purpose of marriage is to bring together two souls, who set out on an adventurous journey called life. They share experiences, smiles, sorrows, achievements and struggles. They uplift and support each other in all situations with their emotional, mental and physical presence. In this journey of life, they form personal, social and spiritual bonds, lasting memories, plans for the future, through which they coexist in the society.
The High Court said that an essential aspect of marriage is being physically and emotionally present in each other’s lives. This is not to say that every marriage, where couples live apart from each other for work or other obligations, is a broken marriage. However, a marriage where there is neither exchange of feelings, nor sharing of dreams, joys, sorrows, memories (happy or sad) is only a legal bond.
The court noted that in the present case, the husband residing in Canada and the wife residing in India have never lived together for any significant period during the entire 11 years of their marriage. It appears that the husband treated his partner as a foreign wife and only used her as a temporary companion.
In fact, the woman challenged the decision of the Family Court, saying that she was born in 2010 in Arya Samaj Mandir, District Baghpat, UP. Her husband has mostly lived in Canada since marriage. After marriage, the husband went to Canada and after many years came to India for a few days. After hanging out with him, he used to go back to Canada. It is alleged that during this time the husband used to abuse her mentally and sexually.
34 year old woman works in a multinational company. The woman’s current appeal was against an earlier order of the Family Court, which had dismissed her application for divorce from her husband on the ground of cruelty. The couple married in 2010 as per Hindu rituals and ceremonies at the Arya Samaj Mandir in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh. After marriage, they do not have any child yet.
