The Supreme Court on Tuesday (January 20, 2026) said that the courts are not a battlefield that couples can keep fighting and wasting the time of the courts to settle their grievances.
The Supreme Court said that quarreling couples cannot be allowed to disrupt the system by making courts a battlefield to settle their grievances. The court said that they should adopt the path of mediation for quick resolution of the dispute, because allegations and counter-allegations in the court further escalate the dispute.
The bench of Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Manmohan made these observations while dissolving the marriage between a couple. The couple lived together for only 65 days and were living separately for more than a decade. Seeing no scope for reconciliation in the marriage, the Supreme Court dissolved the marriage using its power under Article 142 of the Constitution.
The court said, ‘Warring couples cannot be allowed to settle their disputes by making the courts their battlefield and disrupting the system. If there cannot be harmony between the two, then methods are available for quick resolution of disputes.
The bench said, ‘The process of mediation can be adopted both before and after the commencement of the litigation proceedings. When parties initiate litigation against each other, especially in criminal matters, the scope for reconciliation reduces, but this cannot be denied.
The Supreme Court said that whenever there are differences between the parties in a marital dispute, preparations begin to teach the other party a lesson. The bench said, ‘Evidence is collected and in some cases even fabricated, which has become more common in the age of Artificial Intelligence. Making false allegations is common because any marital dispute has an immediate impact on the structure of the society, hence it is the duty of all concerned to make every effort to resolve it as soon as possible before the parties adopt a harsh and obstinate stance.’
The court accepted that the problem becomes more serious after the birth of a child or children. The Supreme Court said that many times the child becomes a cause of dispute between the quarreling parties. The Supreme Court said that in the changing times, matrimonial litigations have increased manifold and it is the duty of all the persons involved, including the family members of the parties, to try their best to resolve the disputes before any civil or criminal proceedings are initiated.
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