‘No point sailing dead wood’: Jharkhand High Court ends couple’s 20-year ‘lifeless relationship’ with Rs 50 lakh alimony

Noting that the unmarried daughter is planning to pursue her higher studies and for that a substantial amount of alimony is required, the court added that, being the father, he has a duty to maintain his daughter and to discharge his accountability to bring his daughter to a responsible position in society.

The bench noted that we all know that a child, particularly a female, is in need of financial means for her study, upbringing, higher studies, and solemnisation of marriage.

Background

• The appellant originally moved the family court in Jamshedpur seeking a decree of divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, on the grounds of cruelty and desertion.
• The parties were married in 1998, but the relationship deteriorated shortly after the birth of their daughter in 1999.
• The husband alleged that the respondent-wife had deserted him for the majority of the last two decades and had subjected him to mental and physical torture, including the filing of a criminal case in which the husband and his parents were eventually acquitted in 2019.
• While the family court had initially dismissed the husband’s suit, the high court determined that the marriage had reached a point of no return.
• The parties have been living separately for approximately 20 years, leading the court to classify the union as a “dead wood marriage”.

Permanent alimony

• The concept of permanent alimony as provided under Section 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 have been enacted with the object of removing the hardship of the wife or the husband with no independent income sufficient for living or meeting litigation expenses.
• The apex court, taking note of the quantum of permanent alimony fixed by the high court, has come to the conclusion that it requires revision.
• The said revision is on the basis of the respondent husband’s income, financial disclosures, and past earnings, which establish that he is in a position to pay a higher amount.
• The respondent-wife has to survive for her livelihood as well as take care of the upbringing and better education of the daughter, solely on the amount of permanent alimony so given by the appellant-husband.
• The wife is only 44 years of age and taking into life expectancy of even 72 years, she has to survive for a long 28 years on the amount of permanent alimony given by her husband, beating inflation, etc.

‘Marital relation lifeless’

• The marital relationship between the parties has become a “dead wood marriage”, and the marital relationship has become lifeless and without emotional or practical value.
• When a marriage is deemed a dead wood situation, the courts may consider it a valid reason to grant a divorce, recognising that forcing a couple to remain in such a relationship only prolongs their suffering, and no purpose will be served in sailing the dead wood.
• The question is that when both parties are not at all interested in living together, then this court cannot compel them to live together.