In a judgment reserved last month and delivered on September 22, 2025, the Delhi High Court upheld a decree of divorce granted to a husband on the ground of desertion. The ruling came in an appeal challenging the Family Court's 2022 decision. The Division Bench, comprising Justice Anil Kshetrapal and Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar, dismissed the plea, holding that the lower court had correctly applied the law.
Background
The couple had married in December 2007 under Christian rites. The marriage, however, never quite settled into stability. Allegations flew back and forth she complained of hostile treatment by her in-laws, while he maintained that she repeatedly chose to live separately.
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They initially lived with his family in Karol Bagh, then shifted to a rented flat in Vasant Kunj. By 2011, the wife had moved to another accommodation on her own. Soon after, she accepted a job offer in Doha, while the husband relocated to Nigeria. Their communications tapered off around 2014.
In 2017, the husband filed for divorce, alleging both desertion and cruelty. The Family Court dismissed the charge of cruelty but granted divorce on desertion, also rejecting the wife’s counter-claim for restitution of conjugal rights.
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Court's Observations
The High Court carefully reviewed the record, particularly focusing on whether desertion defined as abandoning a spouse without reasonable cause was established.
The judges noted that the wife had herself admitted in pleadings that she packed her belongings and left the matrimonial home on December 1, 2011. While the husband occasionally visited her afterwards, the court said those brief stays did not qualify as resumption of married life.
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On the allegation that her mother-in-law’s hostility forced her to leave, the Bench found little substance.
"No contemporaneous complaints or legal steps were taken to substantiate such claims," the court observed.
Equally important was her move abroad. Taking up employment in Doha in 2012 without even informing her husband, the judges said,
"strongly indicated her intention to permanently abandon the relationship."
The bench emphasized the two elements necessary for desertion: the fact of separation and the intention to end cohabitation (animus deserendi). Both, they found, were present here.
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Decision
Concluding that the husband had proved continuous separation far exceeding the statutory minimum of two years, and that the wife had failed to show any lawful cause for living apart, the High Court affirmed the divorce.
"The appellant has not demonstrated any reasonable cause for withdrawal from cohabitation. On the contrary, her conduct clearly shows an intention to end the marital relationship," the Bench ruled.
Accordingly, the appeal was dismissed, leaving intact the Family Court's 2022 decree dissolving the marriage under Section 10(1)(ix) of the Divorce Act, 1869.
Case Title:- X & Y
