Marriages fixed on FB bound to fail: Guj HC

Saeed.Khan@timesgroup.com

Ahmedabad: Fixed-on-Facebook modern marriages are bound to fail, the Gujarat high court observed while dealing with a case of domestic violence where a man and his wife ended up squabbling soon after they wed following a courtship on social media.

The high court also advised the couple, in their 20s, to settle their dispute and consent to a divorce so that they “can think about future avenues in life”.
The court was hearing the case of student couple Jaideep Shah of Navsari, south Gujarat, and Fansi of Rajkot, Saurashtra, who came into contact with each other on social media platform Facebook in 2014.

They fell in love, started meeting offline and got married on February 8, 2015. Problems cropped up in their marital life within two months of their wedding.

The woman left her matrimonial home and accused her husband and in-laws of demanding dowry, torture and criminal intimidation.

The “Mahila” police station registered an FIR under IPC Sections 498A, 323 and 504, and under the Dowry Prohibition Act. Her in-laws approached the Gujarat high court to quash the charges in 2016.

During the hearing of the quashing petition on Wednesday, Justice J B Pardiwala observed, “This is one of those modern marriages fixed on Facebook, and is therefore bound to fail.”

The judge also acknowledged that the couple’s efforts to resolve their differences had been fruitless.

“I am of the view that the parties should explore the possibility of a settlement and put an end to the marriage with consent. Both sides are young. Once the marriage is dissolved, they can think about their future avenues in life,” the judge said.

The HC quashed the charges levelled against the in-laws, commenting that the allegations were mainly targeted at the husband.

The woman’s advocate conceded that the in-laws may not be concerned with the dispute between husband and wife and the court could quash the FIR against the in-laws.

The HC permitted investigation to proceed against the husband.