The Allahabad High Court has ruled that if one spouse files a criminal case against the other within one year of marriage, and both later agree to separate, divorce by mutual consent may be granted without waiting for the usual one-year period.
Quoting the proviso to Section 14(1) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the division bench of Justice Vivek Chaudhary and Justice Brij Raj Singh emphasized:
“The proviso to Section 14(1) of the Act, 1955 is an exception to the necessity for expiration of a period of one year since the date of marriage to enable a party to file a petition for divorce.”
As per law, divorce by mutual consent under Section 13-B typically requires at least one year of marriage before a petition can be filed. However, Section 14(1) permits the court to waive this one-year requirement if there's “exceptional hardship to the petitioner” or “exceptional depravity on the part of the respondent.”
In this case, the couple—Angad Soni and Arpita Yadav—got married on August 5, 2024. Shortly after, disputes arose, and the husband lodged a complaint fearing a false FIR. The wife then filed an FIR under Sections 115(2), 352, and 351(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Later, she also filed another serious FIR under Sections 376, 506 IPC, and Section 3/4 of the POCSO Act.
Despite these ongoing criminal proceedings, both parties approached the court jointly for a mutual divorce under Section 13-B and requested relaxation under Section 14 due to the exceptional circumstances.
Initially, the Principal Judge, Family Court, Ambedkar Nagar, rejected the plea, stating that the divorce petition must wait until the one-year period elapsed. This led the parties to appeal before the High Court.
Highlighting previous judgments from Punjab & Haryana, Karnataka, and Kerala High Courts, the Allahabad High Court observed that other courts have similarly relaxed the one-year requirement when marriages broke down beyond repair shortly after solemnization.
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“In the present case, it is borne out of the record that criminal cases have been filed by the respondent and there is no chance that marriage will subsist. Therefore, the proviso to Section 14(1) of the Act, 1955 is to be invoked…”
The Court set aside the Family Court’s rejection and allowed the couple to proceed with their mutual divorce application.
“The Family Court shall treat the petition filed under Section 13-B to have been filed on 26.03.2025, enabling the parties to make a motion under Section 13-B(2) upon expiry of six months.”
Case Title: Angad Soni v. Arpita Yadav, First Appeal Defective No.115 of 2025
