Prayagraj (UP), January 29: The Allahabad High Court has reaffirmed that marriage between two Hindus is sacrosanct and cannot be dissolved within a year of marriage unless there are extraordinary circumstances such as exceptional hardship or depravity, as specified under the Hindu Marriage Act.
A bench comprising Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Donadi Ramesh pointed out that under Section 14 of the Hindu Marriage Act, there is a one-year waiting period after marriage before filing for divorce, with the provision for exceptions in cases of significant hardship or depravity.
This ruling came in response to a case involving a couple, Nishant Bharadwaj and Rishika Gautam, who had sought a mutual divorce under Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. However, their petition was rejected by the principal judge of the Family Court in Saharanpur because the mandatory one-year waiting period, as outlined in Section 14, had not yet passed.
