In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court has held that there is no legal sanctity attached to verdicts of village panchayats, including khaps, that touch personal lives of couples, even if the community accepts such decisions.
Handing out this ruling in a case where a village panchayat in Uttar Pradesh had granted divorce to an Army man from his teacher wife, a Bench comprising Justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan not only reversed the 13-year-old divorce decree but also said it had no legal value.
Justice Chauhan, writing the order for the Bench, agreed with the Allahabad High Court's decision that "dissolution of marriage through panchayat, as per custom prevailing in that area and permitted in that community, cannot be a ground for granting divorce under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955".
Mahendra Nath Yadav and Sheela Devi were married in May 1990 but differences arose soon after as Yadav's job requirements meant there was no normal family life. In 1995, a Varanasi court allowed an application by Sheela directing the husband to pay her a maintenance of Rs 400 per month.
She also initiated criminal cases under Section 498A against her husband and his relatives. As the relationship between the two deteriorated further, there was an attempt to settle the matter. Later, Yadav moved the panchayat for a divorce.
The panchayat on June 7, 1997, decided that Yadav should pay a sum of Rs 30,000 to the wife's family. Once that was paid, the panchayat prepared a document, which was signed by the parties, stating that the marriage had come to an end.
To give legal effect to this document, Yadav persuaded Sheela to move court for divorce by mutual consent. She did not agree. When the husband filed a divorce suit in a local court on grounds of desertion and cruelty, she sought restitution of conjugal rights.
The family court in September 2000 decreed the suit mainly on the ground that the marriage stood dissolved through panchayat and dismissed the wife's plea. However, the HC allowed the wife's appeal and reversed the family court's order.
When the husband appealed against the HC order, the SC issued notice to the wife but she did not respond. Deciding the appeal ex-parte, the SC held that if there was any legal sanctity to the panchayat's decision, then the husband would not have moved the family court to get it formalised.
"Filing the petition itself means that none of the parties was of the view that divorce granted by the panchayat was legal," it said.