IMPORTANT POINT
Remarriage during the appeal period under Section 15 of the Hindu Marriage Act does not invalidate an ongoing appeal, and the legality of such remarriage is to be determined at the final hearing.

ORDER

M.M.Sathaye, J. - This Interim Application is a classic example of increasing tendency amongst the litigants to try to overreach the provisions of Law by creating a situation, which is difficult to reverse, thereby making pending proceedings infructuous. In the present case, such effort is made by a wife in a matrimonial dispute arising out of divorce proceedings.

2. This is an application filed by Applicant-wife (Respondent in Appeal) praying for dismissal of Appeal (FCA No. 173/2019) on account of her second marriage. An alternative prayer is made to vacate the interim order passed by this Court dated 11.10.2019 in IA No. 1/2019 and for expeditious hearing of the appeal.

3. It is the case of the Applicant-Wife that marriage between the Applicant and Respondent was solemnized on 09.08.2006 as per Hindu rites and rituals. The parties were blessed with a son named Arjun, who was born on 17.05.2008. Due to cruel treatment by Respondent-husband, the Applicant was forced to leave the matrimonial house and she filed petition for divorce and for relief of custody of child. On 12.07.2019, the Family Court No.5, Mumbai partly allowed the Applicant's claim and marriage between the Applicant and Respondent was dissolved by decree of divorce with effect from the date of the decree, giving her permanent custody of child Arjun. The Respondent Husband was permitted to have access on week-ends.

4. It is submitted by the Applicant Wife that on 06.10.2019 (within 90 days from the date of decree), she remarried to one Pradip Mannadiar, a German national of Indian origin and at the time of that marriage, she was not aware of the present Family Court Appeal filed by the Respondent-husband. It is further submitted that on 09.10.2019, the papers and proceedings of present Family Court Appeal came to be served on the Applicant and for the first time, she got the knowledge of pendency of the present Appeal. It is further submitted that on 11.10.2019, when this Family Court Appeal was listed in this Court, the Applicant disclosed to the Court that she has already remarried, when an order of interim stay is passed by this Court. It is submitted orally before us that on that day, no documentary evidence was produced by Applicant Wife in support of her claim of being already re-married and therefore interim stay has been granted by way of abundant precaution.

5. The Applicant contends that she has contracted second marriage when she had no knowledge of the present Appeal and after the second marriage and her cohabitation with her second husband, no purpose would be served in keeping the present Family Court Appeal pending. It is contended that the marriage between the Applicant and Respondent has been broken irretrievably and the same is dead from 2013 and since then the parties have not cohabited. On these grounds, the Applicant prays that the present Family Court Appeal be dismissed or the interim order dated 11.10.2019 granting stay to the dissolution of marriage, be vacated and the appeal be heard expeditiously.

6. The Respondent-husband (original Appellant) has filed a reply and has opposed this interim application. It is contended by the Respondent-husband that the Applicant had remarried without waiting for the statutory period of Appeal, as required under Section 15 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1956. It is submitted that the Applicant-wife has married hastily within a short span from the date of impugned decree and has immediately applied for child's passport without the knowledge and consent of the husband to deprive him of access. It is contended that the Respondent-husband came to know about the second marriage of the Applicant on 11.10.2019 i.e. the date when the present Appeal was listed for admission, and a statement was made by Applicant's advocate across the bar. It is further contended that Respondent-husband was shocked to know about the Applicant's second marriage and the manner and haste in which it was done and disclosed. It is submitt