Bombay High Court Prioritises Wife's Convenience In Divorce Case Venue Change From Nashik To Pune

For a woman to travel alone from Pune to Nashik for court proceedings “would definitely be a matter of concern and cause not only physical inconvenience but also emotional and psychological inconvenience”, observed the Bombay High Court.

Justice Abhay Ahuja, while transferring the divorce proceedings filed by the estranged husband before the family court at Nashik to Pune, also remarked that the wife’s convenience has to be preferred over that of the husband.

“In a country like India, important decisions such as marriage, divorce are still taken with the guidance and blessings of elders in the family. For a lady to travel alone for the proceedings to a court where the fate of her marriage is going to be decided without any family member would definitely be a matter of concern and cause not only physical inconvenience but also emotional and psychological inconvenience,” the court said.

The court was hearing a petition filed by the woman seeking transfer of divorce petition from Nashik to Pune contending that she cannot travel alone to conduct the matter in Nashik since she is staying with her elderly parents in Pune and her father has recently undergone eye surgery. She claimed that there is no male member of the family to accompany or escort her from Pune to Nashik for the proceedings.

However, considering the husband’s health condition, the court granted him liberty to appear before the family court in Pune through video conferencing on dates where his physical presence is not required.

“Respondent-husband would also no doubt be undergoing panic and anxiety, as per past Supreme Court judgement, however, in these types of matters, it is the convenience of the wife that is to be preferred over the convenience of the husband,” the court observed.

According to the plea, the couple got married in 2019. In October 2022, she was compelled to leave her matrimonial home due to differences of opinion.

The wife claimed that while the estranged husband dropped her at her parents’ house in Pune, he had assured her he would bring her back within a week and believing the promise, she came to stay in Pune with her parents.

However, the plea claimed that in February this year, the husband filed a petition for dissolution of marriage before the family court in Nashik, which she was aware of until the husband’s cousin came to Pune in April this year to hand over her belongings.

However, the husband’s advocate opposed the plea saying that his condition had deteriorated due to alleged harassment and mental cruelty from the wife and that she had willingly left her matrimonial home in Nashik.