Chhattisgarh High Court has granted a divorce decree to a man whose wife took 10 years to join him in the matrimonial home waiting for a shubh muhurat (auspicious time). The High Court bench held that this amounted to desertion.
“The auspicious time is meant for happy family life. Instead, in this instant matter, it appears that auspicious time (shubh-muhurat) was used as a tool barrier by the wife to start their matrimonial home,” noted the division bench comprising Justice Goutam Bhaduri and Justice Rajani Dubey.
The bench noted that the marriage is to be dissolved under the Hindu Marriage Act by a decree of divorce. The wife, in full knowledge of the facts, had deserted the husband, so he was entitled to get a divorce, the court added.
The petitioner, Santosh Singh, had challenged a family court order. The family court has rejected his plea seeking divorce on the grounds of desertion.
Santosh Singh submitted that they got married in 2010 and they only lived together for 11 days. Her family took her away, saying that they had some work.
As per the petitioner, he tried to bring his wife back twice but was refused on the ground that it is not the “auspicious time”.
The husband applied for restitution of conjugal rights later. An ex parte decree was granted in connection to the restitution of conjugal rights.
The wife contended that the husband didn’t come when she was willing to go with him. She submitted that the husband didn’t return to take her home when the auspicious time started as per the custom.
She added that she had not deserted her husband but he had failed to take her as per their prevailing custom.
Noting that the defence of custom raised by the wife is not proved in the trial court, the High Court bench granted divorce to the husband.
