Supreme Court Dissolves a Decade-Long 'Dead' Marriage Under Article 142, Orders Rs. 5 Crore Alimony and Bars Further Litigation

In a decade-long, acrimonious matrimonial dispute in which the husband, a practising advocate, had filed more than 80 proceedings against the wife, her relatives and her lawyers while repeatedly disobeying maintenance orders, the Supreme Court invoked its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution to dissolve the marriage over the wife's opposition, holding that the marriage had irretrievably broken down after more than nine years of separation. The Court granted the wife custody of both children with structured visitation for the father, awarded a consolidated Rs. 5 crore towards permanent alimony, maintenance, child support and litigation costs payable within a year, and restrained the husband from initiating further proceedings against the wife, her relatives or her lawyers.