In a recent ruling, the Supreme Court has put an end to a prolonged matrimonial battle, the Court successfully persuaded the husband to agree to a divorce decree, provide permanent alimony for the wife and child, and granted him visitation rights, thereby concluding a staggering 21-case legal ordeal.

The matter was heard before the division bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia.

"Though mediation has not been successful, we impressed upon parties and the counsels of a desirability of bringing the usual bouquet of cases in matrimonial disputes to an end. In fact, this is an aggravative case where possibly between the parties, there are 21 cases filed by one side or the other!," a bench noted.

Further, the bench said, "We hope that the parties will adopt a more cooperative attitude for the purposes of the child even though they have not been able to live together.

During the proceedings involving a number of case transfer petitions, the court discovered that the husband had filed 10 cases, while the wife had filed 11 cases against each other.

The court took on record a statement by the husband that a decree of divorce passed on January 24, 2023, by the family court, even though on grounds of cruelty, will not be assailed by him, as he wanted to bring this issue to an end.

So far as "the most contentious issue about the visiting rights" was concerned, the bench said that it had given rise to the filing of multiple cases.

"It is necessary that the child should get the benefit of the affection of both the parents even though the parties have not been able to live together," the bench said.

The court issued an order granting visitation rights to the father, with the provision of supervision under a counselor during the initial period.

"The child apparently has not met the father for some time and thus an unsupervised visit which is what is proposed but it would be appropriate that initially the interaction between the father and the child is in the presence of a counsellor to be appointed by the State Legal Services Authority," the bench said.

"On the child being comfortable with the father, unsupervised interaction can take place and in the vacations, the child can be with the father for about a week once the counsellor is of the view that the interaction is taking place in a manner which facilitates such unsupervised interaction for a longer period of time in the vacations," the bench added.

It also recorded a statement by the husband that whatever documents or certificates of the wife were with him would be returned to her.

Case Title: GAURAV GARG v. SHWETA AGARWAL & ORS.ETC