Husband cannot force wife to live together, important decision of Punjab-Haryana High Court

The Punjab-Haryana High Court has given a major verdict on the hearing of cases related to divorce. The court said on Thursday that we should understand the difference between divorce and criminal cases. In cases of divorce, both parties (husband and wife) cannot be forced to live together. The court said that there is no point in introducing marital disputes as evidence during the hearing.

A bench of Justices Sureshwar Thakur and Sudeepti Sharma said that the factual and practical aspect of such cases is that the court does not allow both the parties to divorce until an official order for divorce is issued and their petition is not rejected. Even if the divorcee is not able to prove the demands, she cannot compel them to live together.

The bench said that in matrimonial disputes, it becomes difficult to practically prove the allegations leveled against each other by both the parties seeking divorce. In such a case, the court should not decide such cases merely on the basis of 'proof of allegations or evidence adduced', as is done in criminal cases. Even if the allegations are proved true, they are not criminal cases, the court said, adding that a win-win situation arises when both parties settle the case by mutual consent.

The court asserted, 'Even if the petition for divorce is dismissed under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) for an order of divorce or in that case the petition under Section 9 of the Marriage Rights HMA is dismissed. Approval is granted. In such cases there can be practically no action. Since the plaintiff is not the property, execution should be done to return it to the other party.