KRISHNA VENI Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present challenge has been preferred by Smt. Krishna Veni, the second wife of Sardar Natha Singh (since deceased), who was a freedom fighter getting pension from the Central Government under the Swatantra Sainik Samman Pension Scheme, 1980 till his demise on August 25, 1984. The petitioner, relying on a deed of declaration of divorce, purportedly executed by respondent no.11, the first wife and Sardar Natha Singh, the husband of the petitioner, claimed widow pension under the said Scheme, which was refused by a communication dated March 6, 2012 issued by the Assistant Secretary to the Government of West Bengal on the ground that such deed of divorce dated December 19, 1956 was not acceptable under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, in the absence of a decree for divorce obtained from a competent court of law.

(2.) Learned counsel submits that the petitioner and her deceased husband were governed by customs of Jat Sikhs, which permit such a divorce. As such, the petitioner claims that Section 29(2) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 is attracted. Sub-section (2) of Section 29 of the Act provides that nothing contained in the Act shall be deemed to affect any right recognized by custom or conferred by any special enactment to obtain the dissolution of a Hindu marriage, whether solemnized before or after the commencement of the Act.

(3.) It is further argued that respondent no.11 had initiated litigation against her husband, late Sardar Natha Singh, during the latter's lifetime, for which payment of pension to respondent no.11 under the said Scheme was stopped by the authorities. In support of his contentions, learned counsel cites the judgment of Gurdit Singh vs. Mst. Angrez Kaur and others, reported at AIR 1968 SC 142, wherein the Supreme Court approved of the proposition that evidence could be accepted on prevalence of custom in the Jullundur District, to lend validity to such a divorce without following the provisions of divorce as stipulated in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.