an interesting development , On 7/6/13, Mr Abhishek Thakur <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear friends, > > Striking a gender equality note, the Supreme Court turned the tables > and asked the husband whether it would have granted divorce to a woman > from her husband, who on developing some mental disorder had become > completely dependent on her, if she promised a huge sum as permanent > alimony! Quite an interesting read and also indicates the increasing > trend of more matrimonial cases reaching courts seeking divorce in > name of mental ilnesses of the spouse... > SC strikes gender equality note in grant of divorce > > Dhananjay Mahapatra, TNN | Jul 2, 2013, 04.28 AM IST > > NEW DELHI: Irretrievable breakdown of marriage, coupled with promise > of large amount of money as permanent alimony, has been cited by rich > and powerful men to seek divorce from their wives when all was not > well in the marital relationship. > > Striking a gender equality note, the Supreme Court on Monday turned > the tables and asked whether it would have granted divorce to a woman > from her husband, who on developing some mental disorder had become > completely dependent on her, if she promised a huge sum as permanent > alimony. > > The case related to Darshan Gupta and Radhika Gupta, who married when > they were barely out of their teens in 1997. Radhika's first pregnancy > was terminated due to medical reasons. The second pregnancy was again > a very complicated one and the child had to be delivered through > Caesarian section. She remained unconscious for a long time and > developed serious mental disorder. The child died eight days after > birth. > > Though she was treated in reputed hospitals, she allegedly remained > mentally ill. The husband claimed separation from her since 2002, > breakdown of marriage and offered a large sum of money as permanent > alimony to seek termination of marriage. > > A bench of Justices P Sathasivam and J S Khehar rejected the husband's > plea and wondered whether a similar request by a woman would have been > entertained by the apex court for grant of divorce from a husband who > developed some mental disorder. > > "In the context of doing justice, it was suggested that the appellant > (husband) would be ready and willing to pay the respondent (wife) > whatever was considered appropriate by the Supreme Court. We are > informed that the appellant is financially well to do," the bench > said. > > "We would, in our endeavour to determine the issue in hand, examine > the matter by reversing the roles of the parties. We will examine the > matter as if the wife had approached the family court seeking divorce, > on the ground that her husband had suffered brain damage leading to > cognitive deficiencies. Yet, despite the said deficiencies, his > working memory had returned to 'near normal' after treatment. And his > mental condition was such that it would not have any effect on his > matrimonial obligations," the bench added. > > "And the wife's family is agreeable to pay an amount to be determined > by this court (just as the husband Darshan Gupta has offered), so as > to enable their daughter to break away and find a more suitable match. > Should she have been granted freedom from her matrimonial ties, in the > given facts, in order to do complete justice to the parties? We would > ask ourselves whether the husband would have accepted such a plea, in > the facts denoted above," it further said. > > "In such a situation, if this court had, in exercise of its > jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution of India, granted > compensation to the husband, and had dissolved his marriage on the > pretext of doing complete justice between the parties, would the same > be acceptable to the husband? We have no doubt in our mind that on a > reversal of roles, the husband, without any fault of his own, would > have never accepted as just the dissolution of his matrimonial ties, > even if the couple had been separated for a duration, as is the case > in hand," Justice Khehar, while authoring the judgment for the bench, > said. > > Source: Times of India > > > > -- > Abhishek Thakur > Research scholar > Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai India > Contact number: 7303438391 > > Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of > mobile phones / Tabs on: > http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > To unsubscribe send a message to > [email protected] > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please > visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Disclaimer: > 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the > person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; > > 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. >
Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
