Punjab and Haryana High Court: While deciding upon a curious scenario wherein the petitioner (wife) after admitting for divorce by mutual consent in the first motion, filed an application for recalling the decree on the ground that the dissolution was obtained by fraud, the Bench of K. Kannan, J., observed that decree of divorce by mutual consent passed by the Court, cannot be annulled by an assertion of any party later on that the decree was meant to be sham for facilitating employment in a foreign country.
The petitioner via her counsel Ashish Pannu, asserted that according to the petitioner’s husband the dissolution of their marriage would brighten his prospects of securing necessary travel documents for going abroad.
Deliberating upon the absurdity of the assertion of the petitioner, the Court observed that marriages are a kind of contract that cannot be annulled on the whims and fancies of the parties outside the Court. Chiding the petitioner for showing irreverence to the decision of the Court, Kannan, J. observed that Court proceedings should not be disrespected, and the parties should refrain from stating lies in the Court. Using stern words, the Court stated that the petitioner wanted to contend that by dissolving the marriage she was assisting herself and her husband for a great future for themselves in a foreign country. The petitioner should have resisted this absurd assertion, as it was only a figment of her imagination, and she cannot be allowed to “infect a solemn judicial exercise that was undertaken to deliver a decree for dissolution.” [Poonam v. Naveen, CR No. 4141 of 2015, decided on 21.01.2016]
