Courts Shouldn’t Force Couples To Engage In Mediation In Case Of “Irretrievably Broken Down” Marriages: Allahabad High Court
The Allahabad High Court while dealing with a case of divorce said that no family court should force parties into mediation if the marriage has already broken down. This judgement was made in the divorce case filed by Anamika Srivastava. The Allahabad HC bench of Justice Rakesh Srivastava and Justice Ajay Kumar Srivastava addressed the case. The bench mutually agreed on the fact that a family court should not force the separated couple to engage in mediating if the marriage has “irretrievably broken down”.
The Allahabad HC bench further harped on the fact that in a case where it is clearly visible that the mediation will serve no purpose to the already broken relationship, then family courts should not necessarily force the parties to do so. It also said that in such cases the courts should not act in a “mechanical way”, as reported by the Live Law.
The rule was observed in a divorce case filed by Anamika Srivastava (wife). The appeal was made under Section 19 of the Family Courts Act of 1984, contesting a Family Court order. She had also appealed to the court to waive the minimum six-month period required for a motion to grant a divorce decree based on mutual consent. The appeal was made on the grounds that the parties were already living separately for 10 years without any pressure, on mutual consent. However, the family court rejected this appeal.
The period of six months is granted under Section 13-B(2) of the Hindu Marriage Act for the parties to cool down and sort out their difference. Nevertheless, the Allahabad High Court observed that waiving the six-month period can be considered in cases where a couple has already been separated for a longer period than that mentioned under Section 13-B(2) of the Act.
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The Allahabad High Court bench observed the fact that Section 9 of the family court Act does make it an obligation for the family courts to consider reconciliation between the parties, however, every case should not be dealt with in a mechanical way, the bench added.
First Published: May 30, 2022 5:51 PM
