Supreme Court issues notice to Centre in plea challenging Restitution of Conjugal Rights provisions

Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Central government in a petition challenging the Constitutional validity of provisions relating to restitution of conjugal rights under the Hindu Marriage Act and Special Marriage Act..When the petition came up for hearing earlier, a Division Bench of the Supreme Court had referred the case to a larger Bench stating that the judgment under challenge in the petition was decided by a Division Bench..On Friday, the Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi with Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna issued notice to the Ministry of Law and Justice in the petition..The petition has been filed by two law students from Gujarat National Law University (GNLU). The petitioners have assailed the judgment of the Court in the case of Saroj Rani v. Sudarshan Kumar Chadha. In this judgment, the Court had upheld the validity of Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act relating to the restitution of Conjugal Rights..Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act provides:.“When either the husband or the wife has, without reasonable excuse, withdrawn from the society of the other, the aggrieved party may apply, by petition to the district court, for restitution of conjugal rights and the court, on being satisfied of the truth of the statements made in such petition and that there is no legal ground why the application should not be granted, may decree restitution of conjugal rights accordingly.”.A similar provision can be found in Section 22 of the Special Marriage Act..The petitioners have prayed that Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act and Section 22 of the Special Marriage Act be struck down. Additionally, the enforcement of restitution of conjugal rights as provided for under Order XXI Rule 32 and 33 of the Code of Civil Procedure is also sought to be struck down..These provisions are being challenged in light of the Supreme Court’s recent judgments on right to privacy, adultery, and decriminalisation of Section 377..“The legal framework is violative of the rights to privacy, individual autonomy and dignity of individuals (both men and women) which are guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.”.The petitioners contend that these provisions place a disproportionate burden on women and is therefore violative of Articles 14 and 15(1) of the Constitution..Read the order below. .Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, Click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.