India's top court rejects plea of 89-year-old seeking to divorce his 82-year-old wife

The Supreme Court in India on Tuesday (Oct 10) rejected a plea by an 89-year-old man, who wanted to divorce his 82-year-old wife.

In the Nirmal Singh Panesar vs Paramjit Kaun Panesar case, the bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi, emphasised the importance of the institution of marriage in India, despite the rise in divorce cases.

The bench said that the institution of marriage occupies an important place and plays a key role in society.

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It said, "In our opinion, one should not be oblivious to the fact that the institution of marriage occupies an important place and plays an important role in society... It is governed not only by the letters of law but by social norms as well. So many other relationships stem from and thrive on the matrimonial relationships in society."

Therefore, it would not be desirable to accept the formula of 'irretrievable breakdown of marriage' as a strait-jacket formula for the grant of relief of divorce under Article 142 of the Constitution of India," the bench added.

"The respondent (wife) is still ready and willing to take care of her husband and does not wish to leave him alone at this stage of life. She has also expressed her sentiments that she does not want to die with the stigma of being a 'divorcee' woman. In contemporary society, it may not constitute a stigma but here we are concerned with the respondent's own sentiment," the bench said in its order.

The bench further added that "under the circumstances, considering and respecting the sentiments of the respondent wife, the court is of the opinion that exercising the discretion in favour of the appellant (husband) under Article 142 by dissolving the marriage between parties on the ground that the marriage has irretrievably broken down, would not be doing "complete justice" to the parties, would rather be doing injustice to the respondent" and "we are not inclined to accept the submission of the appellant to dissolve the marriage on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage".

(With inputs from agencies)

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