The Supreme Court has dissolved the marriage of a couple exercising its special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution on the ground that the marriage had “irretrievably” broken down.

The couple had lived together for only 65 days after their marriage and slapped 40 cases against each other.

A bench of Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Manmohan directed the quashing of all the criminal and civil cases filed by the couple — Neha Lal and Abhishek Kumar — against each other, except the cases of perjury.

According to the wife, the marriage took place on 28.01.2012 and she had left the in-laws’ house after 65 days of the marriage on account of alleged cruelty inflicted by the husband and his family members. They have been living separately since then.

“Efforts were made for reconciliation but failed. Before this court too, the matter was referred for mediation vide order dated 22.07.2025 and fixed for report of the mediator on 14.10.2025. However, on an application (I.A.No.176081 of 2025) filed by the respondent in-person, the date of hearing was preponed as even the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner also submitted that the process of mediation could not take off. As a result, there are no chances for settlement of the dispute,” Justice Rajesh Bindal, who authored the judgment, observed.

He added: “We find this to be a case of irretrievable breakdown of marriage, where the parties stayed together only for 65 days, are separated for the last more than a decade and have been indulging in litigation one after another. We find this to be a fit case for exercise of our discretion under Article 142 of the Constitution of India to dissolve the marriage between the parties.”