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The top court said that the wife could travel to Mangalore and she could also seek exemption from the family court whenever required.
A division bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Aravind Kumar recently refused to transfer the divorce proceedings from Mangalore to Mumbai while observing that the parties had lived together only for 40 days.
“We do not find this to be a fit case for exercise of power under Article 142 of the Constitution of India as good sense may prevail on the parties. They had lived together only for 40 days. It takes time to settle down in marriage,” the bench observed.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by The petitioner-wife, who was a permanent resident of Canada, seeking a transfer of divorce proceedings initiated by her husband in a family court in Mangalore to Mumbai. The parties argued that their marriage had broken down due to various issues.
The wife alleged that she was mistreated by her in-laws, and her husband sent her to Mumbai and stopped communicating with her. She then filed a police complaint after being denied entry to her marital home, while her husband filed for divorce.
The husband, on the other hand, claimed that he had made several attempts to reconcile the marriage, including through mediation, but was unsuccessful.
The top court in 2021 had ordered mediation after it had found out there was the possibility of settlement of the matrimonial dispute and the matter was referred to Supreme Court Mediation Centre.
However, the mediation failed and the husband sought time to file an affidavit for satisfying the court that there was an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage and that the top court should exercise its jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution of India to dissolve the marriage.
However, the court refused to transfer the case to Mumbai while noting that the wife could travel to Mangalore.
“The wife is a permanent resident of Canada. She must be travelling abroad regularly. As is evident from the observations in the Mediation Report dated 08.02.2023 submitted by Justice S.J. Vazifdar, the petitioner was in Canada throughout the mediation process and attended the proceedings online. There is no child born out of wedlock to be taken care of. Both the parties are well educated and engaged in their own jobs and professions. She can travel to Mangaluru to attend the hearing of the case and can also seek exemption from appearance whenever required” the order noted.
Case title: Delma Lubna Coelho vs Edmond Clint Fernandes
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