Bombay High Court Overturns Controversial Divorce Decree, Orders Fresh Hearing

In a major development, the Bombay High Court has quashed and set aside a divorce decree passed by a Mumbai family court in November 2024. The High Court observed that the family court had ignored the well-established legal position that merely because a party did not lead evidence or file a written statement, the proceedings cannot be automatically decreed in favor of the other party.

The case involved a couple married in 2017 under the Special Marriage Act. The husband had accused the wife of cruelty and sought a divorce, which the family court granted in November 2024 after the wife remained absent from the proceedings. However, the High Court was dissatisfied with the "casual and mechanical approach" of the family court, stating that the lower court failed to independently analyze the merits of the case and merely relied on the husband's unchallenged testimony.

Notably, the husband had remarried during the pendency of the wife's appeal, but the High Court ruled that the flawed nature of the family court's order warranted it to be quashed. The High Court has now directed the matter to be heard afresh, allowing the wife to file her written statement and both parties to cross-examine their respective witnesses.