In a tense and emotionally charged hearing at the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Jabalpur bench, the division bench of Justice Vishal Dhagat and Justice B.P. Sharma on 14 November 2025 delivered a significant ruling dissolving a long-broken marriage between Parvati Suryavanshi and Omprakash Suryavanshi. The court, after sifting through years of bitterness, brief reconciliations, and failed attempts at rebuilding trust, concluded that the relationship had collapsed far beyond repair.
Background
The couple married in 2002 and lived together until 2010. What followed was a cycle familiar to many troubled marriages-separation, a mutual-consent divorce attempt, and a short-lived reunion prompted by social pressure. They tried living together again, but it barely lasted six months. Parvati alleged harassment, dowry demands, and physical abuse. Omprakash, on the other hand, claimed she left with money, jewellery, and even treated their daughters with cruelty.
Somewhere in the middle of these strained years, Parvati remarried in 2018-without a legal divorce from her first husband. This second marriage, performed in an Arya Samaj ceremony, became a crucial point of contention in the trial court, which dismissed her divorce plea by treating her remarriage as “misconduct.”
Court’s Observations
The High Court, however, took a more nuanced view. Justice Dhagat noted that the issue was not the validity of Parvati’s second marriage but whether she had suffered cruelty in her first. The bench observed, “Irretrievable breakdown of marriage is a species within the genus of cruelty.”
While technically not listed in the Hindu Marriage Act, the judges stressed that courts cannot ignore ground realities. If two people have not lived like spouses for nearly a decade, continued opposition to divorce adds unnecessary daily suffering. “The bench observed, ‘When there is no possibility of living together, forcing a spouse to continue the marriage causes continuing cruelty.’”
Interestingly, the court acknowledged Parvati’s fault-she had indeed married another man before obtaining a valid divorce. But it refused to use that as a shield for Omprakash to indefinitely block her exit from a dead marriage. The court pointed out that Parvati was not even seeking maintenance and that both parties had built separate lives long ago.
Decision
Ultimately, the High Court set aside the earlier judgment and granted divorce under Section 13(1)(ia) on grounds of cruelty-specifically Omprakash’s refusal to allow Parvati the freedom to move on with her life. The marriage dated 24 May 2002 now stands dissolved.
The court closed with a firm direction: Parvati will not be entitled to alimony or any claim over Omprakash’s property. And with that, the long, aggravated chapter between the two came to a formal end in the courtroom.
Case Title: Smt. Parvati Suryavanshi vs. Omprakash Suryavanshi
Case No.: First Appeal No. 789 of 2022
Case Type: Family Court Appeal (Divorce – Section 13(1)(ia) HMA)
Decision Date: 14 November 2025
