JUDGMENT :

Shashi Kant Gupta, J.

This appeal has been filed against the order dated 23.01.2019 passed by the Principal Judge, Family Court, Allahabad in Misc. Case No. 01 of 2019 (Smt. Ayushi Jaiswal v. Arpit Garg) whereby the application jointly filed by the parties under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act for mutual divorce has been rejected and the divorce petition was returned on the ground as having been filed within less than a period of one year of separation of the parties.

2. A perusal of the record shows that the marriage was solemnized on 09.07.2018 between the parties but soon thereafter, their marital relations got strained as a result whereof they entered into a compromise on 20.12.2018 to seek a mutual divorce under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (in short "the Act"). Both the parties are living separately since 12.10.2018. On 21.12.2018, a joint application under Section 13 B was filed by the parties before the court below for seeking divorce on the basis of mutual consent.

3. It is relevant to mention here that an application under Section 14 of Hindu Marriage Act has also been filed by the respondent in the aforesaid divorce petition to grant leave to