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Woman gets one-month jail for reneging on divorce pact
The judgment by justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora said that the conduct of the wife to go back on the settlement cannot be tolerated
The Delhi high court on Wednesday sentenced a woman to one-month imprisonment for contempt of court after she reneged on the terms of an agreement entered with her estranged husband for a one-time divorce settlement.
However, the court kept open a window for the woman to make amends by suspending its order for two weeks to enable her to take steps to purge the contempt.
The judgment by justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora said that the conduct of the wife to go back on the settlement cannot be tolerated.
The couple married in 2015 but differences led to the parties living separately since April 2017 and nearly 20 legal proceedings were filed by the couple against each other.
Later, it was mutually agreed that the husband would give a property to the wife in Mumbai as a one-time settlement of dissolving their marriage. The wife agreed to pay maintenance charges to the tune of over ₹13.48 lakh. It was also mentioned in the agreement that any non-compliance by the parties will attract action under the Contempt of Courts Act.
Within two months, the husband received a mail from the wife refusing to approve the deed for the flat as she insisted on getting documents verified and demanded the maintenance charges be paid by him to be later reimbursed at the time of executing the gift deed.
The high court noted that the wife showed no remorse and had openly told the court that she is not bound by the settlement terms.
A fine of ₹2,000 was also imposed which, if not paid, would entail a further imprisonment of 15 days.
Advocate Prabhjit Jauhar who appeared for the husband said that the order will serve as a precedent and a reminder against those who renege on the settlement terms. “There are thousands of cases where parties go back on the settlement agreement. This will serve as a precedent for Courts to follow,” he said.
