Date:10/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/10/stories/2008081059270400.htm

New Delhi

“Try and resolve matrimonial disputes via reconciliation”

Staff Reporter

Appeal by Delhi High Court judge to the state agencies and social workers

‘Discourage parties to the matrimonial discords from resorting to legal action in a huff ‘
‘Set up a desk in the Crime Against Women Cell to provide conciliation services’

NEW DELHI: Justice Kailash Gambhir of the Delhi High Court has appealed to the state agencies and social workers to come together and focus their attention on resolution of matrimonial disputes through reconciliation.

Mr. Justice Gambhir said the state agencies and voluntary organisations should discourage parties to the matrimonial discords from resorting to legal action in a huff without exhausting the avenues of reconciliation.

He made these suggestions while directing a couple to go in for an amicable settlement of their dispute and staying the arrest of the wife’s in-laws to allow them to sit across the table and talk things out.

Mr. Justice Gambir appealed to the Bar not to put in wild allegations in the petitions of the parties to a dispute and indulge in character assassination for the sake of lucre. Reminding the members of the Bar of their social responsibility as social engineers, he suggested to them to prompt the estranged couples to go in for restoration of their matrimonial bliss through reconciliation.

Lower courts should also work with the same objective so far as the matrimonial disputes are concerned, Mr. Justice Gambhir said, adding that restitution of marriages and reunion should be the first endeavour and separation the last resort in a matrimonial dispute. He urged the Delhi Legal Services Authority, the National Commission for Women, NGOs and social workers to set up a desk in the Crime Against Women Cell to provide conciliation services to the quarrelling couples.