HC sets aside divorce as woman could not appear in case due to pandemic

The Delhi high court has set aside the divorce granted to a man, on the grounds that his wife was unable to appear before the family court and state her case during the Covid-19 pandemic

The Delhi high court has set aside the divorce granted to a man, on the grounds that his wife was unable to appear before the family court and state her case during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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The court was hearing a plea by a woman who had challenged a September 24, 2020 judgment of the family court that had granted a divorce in favour of her husband.

A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli said the order granting divorce cannot be sustained as the wife was not given due opportunity to contest the divorce petition. The court also noted that trial courts have been specifically directed not to pass any adverse orders during the pandemic.

“On March 16, 2020, when the matter was fixed before the family court, the pandemic has already set in and the functioning of courts was also severely restricted. In fact, the courts subordinate to this court were specifically instructed not to pass any adverse orders against those who could not appear either physically or in proceedings through video conferencing due to the pandemic,” the bench said.

Since the woman or her counsel did not appear before the family court on March 16, 2020, she was declared ex parte and the family court fixed the matter for hearing through video conferencing.

As the woman did not appear in those proceedings, the court passed an ex parte judgment and granting divorce.

The high court, while setting this aside, said though the woman’s counsel did not appear before the family court on March 16, 2020, but “we are of the view that in the light of the then prevailing circumstances, the family court should have waited for the woman to appear and contest the proceedings, rather than hurriedly proceeding ex parte against her”.

The bench sent the case back to the family court and asked the court to hear it from the stage when the woman, through her counsel, was declared ex parte.

The couple got married in February 2013 and was living separately since March 2013. They have a son and the husband had filed the divorce petition alleging cruelty.