Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court has stayed a family court decree directing a husband to resume cohabitation with his wife after he took exception to an order that asked police to escort the woman to her husband’s home in Rajkot.This is because the law stipulates that a decree of restitution of conjugal rights cannot be enforced by the involvement of police or courts and cannot compel couples to live together by force.The couple in this case got married in 2008 and have a son. They have been living separately for the last 16 years. The husband, a lecturer in a Rajkot college, filed for divorce in a court in his native Simalwara in Rajasthan.The wife, on the other hand, sought to assert her conjugal rights and filed a family suit under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act in Modasa of Aravali district, where she works as an anganwadi worker. The family court allowed her application and passed a decree in Jan 2025 thereby directing the husband to take the wife back within 30 days.The husband appealed in the HC against the family court’s order through advocate Dharmesh Patel. While the appeal was pending, the wife filed another application in the family court seeking the execution of the decree and sought police protection. Acting on her application, the family court passed an order and directed a police inspector of the jurisdiction concerned in Rajkot to take the woman to her husband’s house and ensure that she enters her matrimonial home.The husband immediately challenged the family court order involving the police on the grounds that Order 21, Rule 32 of the Civil Procedure Code has provisions for execution of decree in restitution of conjugal rights, but it envisages attachment of property in a case of disobedience by the spouse, and its enforcement is not contemplated by police personnel. Advocate Patel insisted on staying the decree itself.On hearing him, the bench of Justice Ilesh Vora and Justice R T Vachhani passed an order and stated, “In such circumstances, a case is made out for granting ad-interim relief as prayed for. Therefore, ad-interim-relief in terms of Para-11(B) is granted till final disposal of the appeal.”
