DIVORCE COULD NOT CONSIDER A PRIVATE AFFAIR, AS SOCIETY HAS A STAKE IN MARRIAGE:--PATNA HIGH COURT.

Divorce is not a private affair as living society has a stake in marriage, the patna High court dismissed a plea of husband to annul his 43 years old marriage on the grounds of his wife's alleged cruelty and desertion by ruling that while the decision to marry was a personal choice, freedom to break a matrimonial tie is not a private affair as society has a stake in the institution of marriage. In its judgement the division bench stated that it found no instance of cruelty-mental or physical, by the wife on her husband except for the, ordinary wear and tear of matrimonial life. The appellant also could not prove that the twenty five odd years he had been living apart from his wife, a nurse in a government hospital, was with her consent. He had originally filed for divorce in 2000 , alleging adultery by his wife. That plea was dismissed for his failure to appear in court. A second divorce plea, filed in 2012 , was rejected in a family court. The division bench cited landmark judgements of the supreme Court outlining what constitutes desertion and cruelty as rationale for divorce. It then directed the registrar general of the highcourt to send copies of the judgement to family courts across the state and the Bihar judicial academy in patna. The appellant had married his now estranged wife in 1980 . They had a son in 1985 and a daughter in 1987.By his own admission, all was well with the marriage for more than 17 years before the wife moved into government quarters allotted to her by the hospital where she was posted.From the above decision of the court it is very clear that divorce could not be considered a private affair of the husband and wife however it is required to be verified by the social sector security and behavior of the husband and wife with confirmations by reason of divorce to be affected under law with evidence for such annulment.