SC: Long period of separation between husband, wife amounts to cruelty to both

‘WITHOUT ANY HOPE FOR RECONCILIATION’

- OUR CORRESPONDENT

Dissolving the marriage between an estranged couple, the Supreme Court on Monday said that a long period of separation between a husband and wife without any hope for reconciliation amounts to cruelty to both parties.

A bench of Justices Manmohan and Joymalya Bagchi noted that the estranged couple, who got married on August 4, 2000, entered into matrimonial litigation in 2003, just two years of marriage, and have been living separately for 24 years owing to their differences in views.

It said despite repeated efforts by courts, there has been no reconciliation between the parties. The bench said in a multitude of cases, this court has had the opportunity to deal with situations where parties have been living separately for a considerable time and it has been consistently held that a long period of separation without any hope for reconciliation amounts to cruelty to both parties.