An unusual case has surfaced in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, where a couple endured a staggering 38-year wait for their divorce. The husband had filed for divorce in 1985, and remarkably, the court has now granted their divorce on the very same application.
After nearly four decades of legal proceedings, the court has finally permitted the dissolution of their marriage. The duration of the wait has extended to the point where even the children of this engineer, who initially sought the divorce, have since gotten married.
The engineer’s arduous divorce case originated in the Bhopal Court and subsequently traversed through the Vidisha Family Court, the Family Court of Gwalior, the High Court, and ultimately reached the Supreme Court. The retired engineer, residing in Bhopal, had filed for divorce from his wife, who is a resident of Gwalior. After an astonishing 38-year legal journey, he has finally been granted permission to legally part ways with his first wife.
In 1981, the engineer entered into matrimony with his first wife. However, their marriage faced challenges as they remained childless, leading to their separation in 1985. Subsequently, in July of the same year, the husband filed for divorce in the Bhopal Court citing the inability of his first wife to conceive, but his plea was denied.
Undeterred, he pursued another divorce application in the Vidisha Court. On the other hand, in December 1989, the wife took a different approach by applying to the Family Court in Gwalior, seeking restoration of conjugal rights. The couple’s conflicting appeals against each other prolonged the legal battle, keeping this case entangled in the courts for an extensive period.
The court initially granted the husband’s divorce application, deeming him eligible for separation, but the first wife contested the ruling, leading to the acceptance of her appeal in court. In April 2000, the pending divorce case in Vidisha was dismissed. Subsequently, the husband pursued an appeal in the High Court, which also turned down his plea in 2006. Not giving up, he filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court, only to have it rejected in 2008. Still determined, he initiated another divorce application in the same year. However, in July 2015, the Vidisha court once again rejected his application, prompting him to file an appeal in the Gwalior bench of the High Court. After an enduring 38-year ordeal, the High Court finally granted the divorce, bringing an end to their prolonged legal battle.
Following their separation, the husband and wife had been living apart, and in 1990, the husband remarried. From his second marriage, the retired engineer has two children, both of whom are now married. After an exhaustive 38-year legal battle, the husband and his first wife have finally reached an agreement for divorce by mutual consent. The High Court, in its directive, has ordered the husband to make a lump sum payment of Rs 12 lakh to his wife as alimony.
The woman’s father, being a police officer, was resolute in preventing the disintegration of his daughter’s marriage, leading her to persistently appeal to the court to halt the divorce proceedings. However, after the woman’s brothers intervened and persuaded both the husband and wife, they finally reached a mutual agreement to proceed with the divorce by consent.
