NEW DELHI – A couple from Punjab separated and obtained divorce by mutual consent but the woman filed a case against her ex-husband under Domestic Violence Act claiming that they continued to live together.
A Supreme Court bench of Justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan on Tuesday quashed the case against Inderjit Singh Grewal and told the woman, Amandeep Kaur, that a case under DV Act could not be maintained as long as the decree of divorce remained in force.
The woman said she and her husband had played a fraud on the court to obtain a divorce decree in 2008. “Even after getting divorce, both of us had been living together as husband and wife,” she contended and pleaded that the case of matrimonial violence against her husband was maintainable as they lived together.
The bench noted that the two got married in 1998 and had a son in 1999. “There was no complaint by the wife against the husband of any cruelty, demand for dowry etc before getting decree of divorce by mutual consent on March 20, 2008,” it said.
After hearing counsel for both, the bench said the evidence produced by her to show that she and her ex-husband lived together could not be taken into account as long as the decree of divorce remained valid.
“The contention advanced by her counsel that even after the decree of divorce, they continued to live together as husband and wife and therefore the complaint under DV Act is maintainable is not worth accepting at this stage,” said Justice Chauhan, writing the judgment for the bench.
Quashing the complaint, the bench said the woman would be entitled to continue with her other cases and the court concerned might proceed in accordance with law without being influenced by the judgment of the apex court.
