The Supreme Court has rejected divorce by mutual consent when the wife is suffering from breast cancer and directed the husband to pay Rs 5 lakh within a week for her treatment, observing that he has a pious duty to look after the wife in dire need.
Giving this ruling a bench of Justices M.Y. Eqbal and C. Nagappan said it is evident that the doctors recommended immediate surgery for the wife and chemotherapy ranging from 6 to 8 cycles of adjuvant. It is mentioned that the approximate cost per cycle will be about Rs 50,000. It is evident that the petitioner-wife needs sufficient amount of money for the treatment of breast cancer. Hence, it cannot be ruled out that in order to save her life by getting money, she agreed for a settlement of dissolution of marriage.
Writing the judgment Justice Eqbal said, “From the study of Hindu Law and different religious books, it cannot be disputed that after marriage, law enjoins the corresponding duty on the husband to look after her comforts and not only to provide her food and clothes but to protect her from all calamities and to take care of her health and safety. The Rs 12 lakh settlement seemed to have been reached under some sort of undue influence.”
The bench held that Hindu marriage is a sacred and holy union of husband and wife by virtue of which the wife is completely transplanted in the household of her husband and takes a new birth.
“In the present case, by the settlement agreement, the respondent-husband is promising to do something which he is already duty bound, is not a valid consideration for the settlement,” the bench said.
“It is a combination of bone to bone and flesh to flesh. To a Hindu wife, her husband is her God and her life becomes one of selfless service and profound dedication to her husband. She not only shares the life and love, but the joys and sorrows, the troubles and tribulation of her husband and becomes an integral part of her husband’s life and activities.”
The Bench passed the order while rejecting the application moved by Vennangot Anuradha Samir and her husband Vennangot Mohandas Samir for transferring their divorce suit to a Hyderabad court from Mumbai, after the man claimed he had agreed to pay her Rs 12 lakh as final settlement towards alimony.
“In the present case, by the settlement agreement, the respondent-husband is promising to do something which he is already duty bound, is not a valid consideration for the settlement,” the bench said.
In this case before the Supreme Court Mediation Centre, a settlement agreement was filed on 26.10.2015, by which the husband agreed to pay Rs 12,50,000 towards full and final settlement as alimony, maintenance for past and future or any other claim of the petitioner. The bench, while shifting the case to a Hyderabad family court, ordered the husband to pay her '5 lakh within a week, out of Rs 12,50,000 for her treatment and meeting other medical expenses. After the petitioner is fully cured from the disease or within six months, whichever is earlier, the family shall take up the case along with a fresh application that may be filed by the parties under Section 13B for divorce by mutual consent, the bench added.
