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Chambers of Ishaan Garg
Ch. No. 217, Western Wing, District & Sessions Court, Tis Hazari, New Delhi, Delhi 110054
+91 8851742417, +91 8800386163
At this juncture, it is necessary to refer to Section 15 of the Act 1955, which reads thus:
Section 15:— “Divorced persons when may marry again. - When a marriage has been dissolved by a decree of divorce and either there is no right of appeal against the decree or, if there is such a right of appeal, the time for appealing has expired without an appeal having been presented or an appeal has been presented but has been dismissed, it shall be lawful for either party to the marriage to marry again.”
In the light of the above discussion, I am of the considered view that the expression ‘willful disobedience of process of a Court’ used under Section 2(b) of the Act, 1971, must also be related to disobedience of some command issued by the Court during the process of a Court which includes various stages between filing of any proceeding to final decision by the Court. During these stages various commands need to be issued by the Court, like issuance of summons, deposit of cost, compelling appearance of any expert or person as a witness, production of documents or record etc., disobedience of any such command may come within the ambit of ‘willful disobedience of other process of a Court’ as provided in Clause (b) of Section 2 of the Act, 1971. But at any stretch of imagination it cannot be said that contravention of provision of Section 15, amounts to willful disobedience of ‘other process of a Court’ under the provisions of the Act, 1971.
35. In the said backdrop, I am of the considered view that performance of a second marriage during the pendency of appeal would be a contravention or a breach of prohibition stipulated under Section 15 of the Act, 1955, but in any case, it would not amount to disobedience of any command of the Court consequently such act would not fall within the ambit of the expression ‘willful disobedience of other process of a Court’ under Clause (b) of Section 2 of the Act, 1971.
In the High Court of Bombay
(Before A.S. Kilor, J.)
Kanchan Vs Prashant Manikrao Bagade
Contempt Petition No. 239 of 2017 and Second Appeal No. 11 of 2016
Citation: 2020 SCC OnLine Bom 911 : (2020) 5 AIR Bom R 606
