In A Rare Case, Court Grants Divorce After Hearing Wife's Plea On Video Chat

In a rare order, a court here today granted divorce to an NRI couple after hearing the woman petitioner, a London-based IT professional, through video conferencing.

The couple had filed the divorce plea by mutual consent before a Pune civil court on August 12, 2016.

"The couple were IT professionals who got married in May 2015. However, barely within two months of their marriage, differences cropped up between them and they started staying separately," said advocate Suchit Mundada who represented the woman petitioner.

He said his client was unable to leave London for the court hearing, as the terms and conditions of her job did not allow her to leave.

"I, on behalf of her, filed an application before the court seeking permission to conduct the hearing through video conferencing, which the court agreed," said Mr Mundada.

On April 28, the husband came down to Pune from Singapore, where he is working currently, whereas the wife appeared via video-conferencing.

Civil Judge V S Malkapatte-Reddy passed the order stating that the marriage between the parties stands dissolved.

"Having considered the contentions of the petition along with the respective affidavits, it transpired that the parties have been living separately since June 30, 2015. They have not been able to live compassionately and have mutually agreed that their marriage should be dissolved," the judge observed.

Mr Mundada claimed that this is for the first time that a court has used technology while granting a divorce. "Generally, physical presence of both the husband and the wife is necessary in the court in such cases," he said.