This story is from February 17, 2019

‘Statement via video for consent divorce okay’

‘Statement via video for consent divorce okay’
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CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has held that the statement of one of the parties, seeking divorce on mutual consent, recorded through videoconference can be accepted for the purpose of granting the decree of divorce.
Directing the family court in Ambala to take a fresh decision on a couple’s plea for divorce, the high court has asked the court to record the statement of wife, who is based in USA, through video conferencing.
At that time, she (wife) can be identified by her sister who has been authorized through a special power of attorney to represent the case and her lawyer, the high court held.
A division bench, comprising Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain and Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal, passed these orders while allowing a petition filed by Ambala-based man who wanted to divorce his wife by mutual consent. The wife in this case is settled in USA and had authorized her sister through special power of attorney to represent her before the court on her behalf.
The couple got married on June 19, 1993 and have three children — two sons and a daughter. Due to differences, they started living separately from January 15, 2011. The wife went to USA on October 12, 2014 and has been residing there since then.
Since the issue of incompatibility became severe, both of them decided to end their marriage by opting for divorce by mutual consent. For this, the woman took an amount of Rs 3.50 lakh as permanent alimony and the couple decided that their daughter would stay with the father and sons with their mother. As the wife is settled in USA, she authorized her sister through a special power of attorney to pursue her divorce petition before the family court in Ambala.

However, on February 2, 2016, their plea for divorce was dismissed by the Ambala family court on the ground that wife was not present in person to record her statement in support of the divorce petition.
The family court, however, gave liberty to the parties that as and when the women comes to India, she could get her statement recorded in person before the court. Aggrieved, the man had approached the high court against the family court’s decision.
He argued that the family court had erred in dismissing the petition on the ground that the verification was defective but did not point out what the defect was. He also contended that his wife’s statement could be recorded by video conferencing.
Hearing the petition, the high court ordered the case to be sent back to the family court in Ambala to allow the woman to record her statement at the first motion stage by way of video conferencing. “She shall be identified by her sister whom she had given her special power of attorney, and also by her advocate,” the HC added.
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About the Author
Ajay Sura

Ajay Sura is Senior Assistant Editor with The Times of India Chandigarh. He covers news concerning the State of Haryana, Punjab & Haryana High Court and Defence & Military Affairs. He likes to analyse political developments and decoding judicial pronouncements. His hobbies include travelling, mountaineering and trekking.

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