The courtroom was quiet but tense as the Supreme Court brought the curtains down on a marriage that, by its own account, had effectively ended decades ago. A bench led by Justice Manmohan concluded that forcing the couple to remain legally tied would serve no purpose, noting that the relationship had long lost its substance and warmth.
Background
The case involved a couple married in Shillong in August 2000. Both were Development Officers with the Life Insurance Corporation of India and had known each other well before tying the knot. Trouble began early. By late 2001, the wife had left the matrimonial home, citing pressure to quit her job and family responsibilities she could not abandon.
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The husband approached the court for divorce in 2003, but that attempt failed as premature. Years later, in 2010, a trial court granted divorce on the ground of desertion. However, the Gauhati High Court reversed that order, holding that the wife had not permanently abandoned the marriage and was, in fact, willing to return. This back-and-forth finally reached the Supreme Court.
Court’s Observations
The Supreme Court took a broader view of the dispute, stepping away from narrow fault-finding. The bench noted that the parties had been living separately for 24 years, with no children and no meaningful contact despite working in the same organisation.
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“The admitted position is that the marriage has survived only on paper,” the bench observed, adding that prolonged separation without any hope of reconciliation amounts to cruelty for both sides. The judges were clear that it was not the court’s role to decide whose approach to married life was correct. What mattered was that the spouses had refused to accommodate each other for decades.
Referring to earlier rulings, the bench said an unworkable marriage becomes a source of misery. Keeping such a legal tie alive, it remarked, does not preserve the sanctity of marriage but instead prolongs mental suffering.
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Decision
Invoking its special power to do “complete justice” under Article 142 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court dissolved the marriage on the ground of irretrievable breakdown. It upheld the original trial court’s divorce decree and set aside the High Court’s order, allowing the husband’s appeal and formally ending the marital bond.
Case Title: Nayan Bhowmick vs. Aparna Chakraborty
Case No.: Civil Appeal No. 5167 of 2012
Case Type: Matrimonial Dispute – Divorce under Hindu Marriage Act
Decision Date: December 15, 2025
