The Allahabad High Court has reaffirmed that a marriage between two Hindu Individuals is sacrosanct and cannot be dissolved within a year solely on the grounds of mutual incompatibility, unless exceptional hardship or exceptional depravity is established under Section 14 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

The case involved a couple who had filed for mutual consent divorce under Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. However, their plea was rejected by the family court in Saharanpur, citing the one-year limitation outlined in Section 14 of the Act.

Delivering the judgement, a division bench comprising Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Donadi Ramesh observed that Section 14 imposes a mandatory one-year waiting period from the date of marriage before a divorce petition can be entertained, with the only exception being cases involving exceptional hardship or exceptional depravity.

In this case, the court found that the couple had cited only mutual incompatibility as the reason for seeking divorce. Since their application did not demonstrate exceptional hardship or depravity, it did not meet the legal criteria required for an exemption under Section 14.

 “The application showed no exceptional hardship or exceptional depravity, so as to invoke jurisdiction under the proviso to Section 14 of the Act,” the court stated.

The court also clarified that divorce petitions filed within a year of marriage can be rejected if they fail to establish extraordinary circumstances under Section 14. It further  emphasised that the one-year limitation serves a significant legal purpose, ensuring that marriage is not dissolved hastily without serious justification.

“The provision contained under Section 14 of the Act has a laudable object to subserve, inasmuch as the legislature has put an embargo in entertaining an application for dissolution of marriage, within one year for specific performance. Marriage between two Hindus is sacrosanct and its dissolution would be permissible only for the reasons permissible in law. On routine grounds of mutual incompatibility between the parties, it would not be open for the parties to seek exemption from one-year limitation in filing such a petition,” the judgement stated.

With these observations, the Allahabad High Court dismissed the first appeal filed by petitioner Nishant Bharadwaj against the family court’s order. However, it left the option open for the couple to file a fresh divorce petition after the mandatory one-year period has lapsed.