Mere use of 'irrevocably' in talaqnama does not make talaq invalid: Kerala HC

The Kerala High Court on Monday dismissed an appeal of a woman seeking to declare Talaq invalid.

The Court held "notwithstanding the use of the word 'irrevocably' in the talaqnama, the respondent must be seen as having pronounced a Talaq Ahsan, that became irrevocable only on the expiry of the period of three lunar months immediately following the single pronouncement of the talaq."

A bench of AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Mohammed Nias CP dismissed the petition of A Sajani, ex-wife of district and sessions judge B Kalam Pasha. She contended that "the talaqnama was not valid since it was post-dated and the date was corrected subsequently through a letter. There was only a single pronouncement of talaq and it was made irrevocable."

The Court said that "we notice from the evidence before us that, even after the pronouncement of talaq, there were in fact efforts to reconcile, albeit unsuccessful, in which family members of either party participated. The feature of instant irrevocability takes in two independent features, i.e, instantaneousness and irrevocability. Both of which contribute to making the practice legally odious.

"In the instant case, since reconciliation efforts were pursued before the pronouncement of talaq, it could not be held as instantaneousness. The talaq in the instant case has to be taken as pronounced after due consideration and not instantaneousness owing to the reconciliation efforts pursued by the parties before its pronouncement," the court stated.

It further said, "The use of the word 'irrevocably' in the talaqnama is certainly suggestive of an intimation by the respondent to the appellant that he was not ready to reconsider his decision. Since reconciliation efforts were pursued even after the pronouncement of talaq, it cannot be held that the parties considered the talaq was irrevocable."

The court'sorder stated that even though the meetings for reconciliation were not successful, as per the judgment of the Kerala High Court in Kunhimohammed v. Ayishakutty, it can be held that there is a reasonable cause for pronouncement of talaq.

"It cannot be presumed that the respondent had used the word 'irrevocably' without understanding its significance," the Court said.

"Had it not been for subsequent events that unfolded, it would have held the pronouncement of talaq as illegal on this ground," added the court.

Earlier, Sajani, a Kollam native had approached a Family Court seeking to declare the talaq was invalid, as well as restitution of conjugal rights and payment of maintenance in terms of Section 125 of the CrPC on the premise that the marriage continued to subsist in the eyes of law. But the Family Court dismissed it. Then she approached the High Court.

( With inputs from ANI )