New Delhi: The Supreme Court has dismissed the petition of a former Armed Forces officer who moved court 27 years ago to divorce his wife. The court reminded the 89-year-old and his wife, now 82, that “marriage is still considered to be a pious, spiritual and invaluable emotional life-net between husband and wife in Indian society,” The Indian Express reported.
The couple married in March 1963 and had two daughters and a son. Problems began after the officer was transferred from Amritsar to Madras in January 1984. His wife, a teacher, refused to join him, opting to stay with her in-laws and later with her son. When attempts to reach an amicable settlement failed, the husband filed a petition seeking divorce on the grounds of cruelty and desertion. He contended that his wife did not even call upon him when he was admitted to an Army hospital following a heart attack and that she complained to his superiors against him to malign his image. All these, he said, amounted to cruelty, according to the report.
Ever since March 1997, when he filed the divorce petition in a District Court, the couple has been living separately. Citing irretrievable breakdown of marriage, he said the Court should exercise powers under Article 142 of the Constitution and grant a decree of divorce.
His wife, however, said that being an elderly woman, she did not want to die with the “stigma” of a “divorcee”. She said she “made all efforts to respect the sacred relationship between the parties all throughout and is still ready to look after the appellant (husband) with the assistance of her son”.
She also contended that a “mere long period of separation could not be tantamount to irretrievable breakdown of the marriage”.
