Courts tend to be protective about young estranged couples who make an effort to give their marriage a second chance.
But the Supreme Court found that the Jharkhand High Court had been a little too over-protective.
The High Court, in fact, decided the restrict the wife’s phone calls to her relatives to about an hour daily. This was meant to protect the couple from any untoward interference from her parents.
But a Supreme Court Bench of Justices S.K. Kaul and K.M. Joseph decided that the High Court had definitely crossed the line here.
The apex court said it found the curb placed on the wife “unusual”.
The High Court had passed its February 2019 order on an anticipatory bail application filed by the husband. The High Court called the couple for a settlement. Limited phone use was one of the conditions laid down by the High Court.
‘Intent to seclude’
“On a reading of the conditions, it appears that the intent is to seclude both the petitioner and respondent No. 2 [wife and husband] from interference in the matrimonial affairs by their respective parents,” the apex court noted.
In the apex court, the wife said she had no difficulty in cooperating with the endeavour for reconciliation, but she was “perturbed” by the High Court’s direction to limit her calls.
Though the High Court had noted that the wife gave her consent to this restriction, the latter claimed in the apex court that she had given no such consent.
The Supreme Court finally gave her the liberty to approach the High Court again to clarify her position regarding her mobile phone use.
