₹50 lakh permanent alimony ordered after court-ordered probe finds husband’s mortgaged property valued at ₹4 crore

The parties, who are Christians, married on 24 January 2010.

The wife alleged cruelty and an improper relationship between her husband and his long-standing domestic worker; she left the matrimonial home on 10 March 2010 and returned to her parental home in Bilaspur.

The husband denied the allegations.

The Family Court dismissed her divorce petition, treating it as one under Section 10(1) of the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872.

On appeal, the High Court found that adultery had not been proved, but that the wife had lived separately since 2010 and had filed the matrimonial case in 2014.

The parties also filed affidavits of assets and liabilities, and the Court appointed a Special Officer to verify the husband’s assets and income.

1. Whether the Family Court applied the correct statute in determining a Christian couple’s divorce petition.

2. Whether the wife was entitled to a divorce on the ground of desertion, despite the failure to prove her allegation of adultery.

3. Whether, and in what amount, the wife was entitled to permanent alimony.

The Court stated that the Indian Divorce Act, 1869—not the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872—governs dissolution of marriage between Christian parties in India.

Under Section 10(1)(ix) of the Divorce Act, desertion for at least two years immediately preceding presentation of the petition is a ground for dissolution.

The Court held that the Family Court had erred by deciding the petition under the wrong statute.

Although the wife did not establish adultery, the Court found that she had left the matrimonial home in March 2010 and that the divorce case was filed in 2014; it therefore concluded that the statutory period of desertion had been satisfied.

For alimony, it considered the wife’s stated monthly expenses and dependence on her parental home, the husband’s disclosed income and rental receipts, and the Special Officer’s findings concerning his property and other assets.

On that basis, it fixed permanent alimony at Rs. 50,00,000.

It directed the husband to pay Rs. 50,00,000 as permanent alimony within three months.

Upon payment, he would no longer be required to pay maintenance, and pending cases between the parties arising from their matrimonial relationship were directed to be dropped.