Divorce granted after man makes wife wait for shubh-muhurat for 10 years

Raipur, Jan 05: A decree of divorce was granted to a man whose wife did not join him in matrimony for nearly 10 years because the shubh-mahurat or auspicious time had not come. The Chhattisgarh High Court held that this amounted to desertion.

"The auspicious time is meant for happy family life. Instead, in this instant matter, it appears that auspicious time was used as a tool barrier by the wife to start their matrimonial home," the HC said.

Santosh Singh had moved the HC challenging a family court order, which had dismissed his petition for divorce on the grounds of desertion. According to his petition, he got married in 2010 and he and his wife lived together for about 11 days. Following this her family took her away stating they had some work. When he asked the family, they told him it was not an auspicious time. Singh filed restitution of conjugal rights which was decreed ex-parte. The wife said that she was ready to join Singh, but he did not return to take her back when the auspicious tie started, which was a necessity as per their custom. She also said she had not deserted him and that he had failed to take her back as per the prevailing custom.

Singh's counsel submitted that the wife knew that the decree for restitution of conjugal rights had been passed, but she still did not join him in matrimonial life.

The counsel for the wife argued that the husband was supposed to personally come and take her back.

He also submitted that when the husband came to take her it was not the auspicious time.

The custom prevailing between the two parties was that during the ceremony of 'Duviragaman', the husband was required to come personally and take his wife back, the counsel also said. The court observed that the defence of custom was not raised by the wife has not been proved in the trial court.