Uttarakhand High Court recently delivered a landmark judgement where the appellant challenged the decision of the Family Court, Haridwar which ordered the appellant to pay Rs. 20,000 per month as maintenance to his wife.
The couple married in May 2019 but separated in July 2019. The Case involved multiple legal proceedings, including criminal charges and maintenance claims. Key issues included whether the appellant should continue paying monthly maintenance and whether prolonged separation and lack of emotional bonding constituted grounds for divorce. Another point of contention was whether forcing the couple to continue in a dead marriage amounted to cruelty.
The Court said “Keeping in view the facts of this marriage, it can be said that this marriage is nothing more than a dead marriage, and if both the parties are not granted divorce, it will amount to cruelty to both the parties. There is no emotional bonding between the parties, and there is no scope of patch-up between them, keeping in view the long period of separation of five years.”
The Court also held that the appellant is paying Rs. 20,000/- per month as maintenance to the respondent and he mentioned that he will pay 25 lakhs to the respondent in six weeks as permanent alimony as directed by the court. Hence the divorce is granted to the parties.
Advocate for Appellant: Adv. Pankaj Kaushik
Advocate for Respondent: Adv. Ankur Sharma
Coram: Chief Justice Ms Ritu Bahri, Justice Rakesh Thapliyal
Read Judgment:
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