Legal Question in Family Law in India

Suraj is from Palghar a very small town in the State of Maharashtra, having moderate economic

family background. Tina belongs to higher income class society from Mumbai.

Both were working as interns in an architect firm called Golden Gates and were in the same team

working on the project assigned to them. At the end of the project Suraj was awarded the ‘Best

Intern’ of the year award. He was offered a permanent placement in the firm itself. After such an

achievement he became overnight hero and was very popular among the staff of the firm. Tina

on the other hand working in the same firm was also impressed with the Suraj.

Tina was a pampered child in her family and never took work seriously. She was popular among

party animals. She used to visit pubs and bars on regular basis. She was known for her spentthrift

and shopaholic nature.

After falling in love, Suraj and Tina got married in December 2005 according to the provisions

of the Hindu marriage Act, 1955 in Pune. The first few months of marriage were healthy. After

about 6 months of their marriage they started to realize the differences in their family values,

priorities in life, approach towards right to privacy/ space, attitude towards family members, life

style etc. and things soon started to fall apart.

The first quarrel took place when Tina returned home at 3 a.m. in wee hours from a party in full

drunken state and refused to give the proper reasoning for her state. When her husband asked her

about the incident next morning, she started crying and assured that this would never happen

again but this time also she refused to give any details. Later in the same month she took

20,000/- from their joint account for shopping of shoes, which Suraj was saving for a knee

surgery of his father. After that both had a heated argument in which both abused and insulted

each other’s families but no physical abuse was made on either side. Suraj and his family

members wished for a child from her but she was not ready for that in near future. She was

having many male friends and Suraj didn’t like spending her time with them. In situations of

heated exchange of words, she used to lose temper and once in a fit of rage she threw her mobile

phone towards him which resulted into a minor eye injury. Several times, she also threatened

him of committing suicide. Despite many requests to wear decent clothes, she continued to wear

short and indecent clothes.

Suraj and Tina both had hard time staying together with more and more differences taking place

every day and night. Meanwhile, on one fine morning Tina went to the police station and filled a

police complaint against all the family members for harassing her physically and mentally

because of which all family members were required to visit police station for investigation.

Before this they had never visited a police station. Tina later withdrew the complaint and

apologized before the police. Immediately within a period of 15 days, she again lodged a

complaint under the Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

Facing such mental agony, almost after one year of marriage Suraj filed a divorce petition before

the Family Court, Pune on ground of cruelty as the marriage has broken down. Tina defended the

petition and showed interest to continue the bond. The matter was heard on day to day basis and

finally petition was rejected within a month from the date of filing. Meantime, Suraj came to

know that she is conceived but has taken the appointment of doctor to abort the child.

Knowing this Suraj immediately rushed to the Bombay High Court through his lawyer he prayed

for injunction against abortion. He challenged the constitutional validity of the Medical

Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 and also asked for the custody of child after birth. He also

claimed for divorce in the same proceeding.

The matter is kept for final argument.

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