2026:CGHC:1906-DB NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR FA(MAT) No. 220 of 2023 Shivkumar Bhartendu S/o Bhikhari Ram Aged About 38 Years R/o Village Ila, Tahsil and Police Station Pathalgaon, R/o Service Place At Village Jashpur Nagar, District Jashpur (C.G.)

... Appellant/Plaintiff versus Smt. Janki Ratre D/o Ganesh Ram Aged About 31 Years Caste- Satnami, R/o Village Ila, Tahsil and Police Station Pathalgaon, District Jashpur (C.G.)

... Respondent/Defendant For Appellant : Mr. Shrikant Kaushik, Advocate appears on behalf of Mr. Rishikant Mahobia, Advocate For Respondent : Mr. Abhinav Tiwari, Advocate appears on behalf of Mr. Ashish Gupta, Advocate DB- Hon'ble Shri Justice Sanjay K. Agrawal Hon’ble Shri Justice Arvind Kumar Verma Judgment on Board Digitally signed by ASHUTOSH ASHUTOSHMISHRA MISHRA Date:

2026.01.14 +0530

13.01.2026 Sanjay K. Agrawal, J.

1. Invoking jurisdiction of this Court under Section 19(1) of Family Court Act, 1984, the appellant/defendant has preferred this appeal against the impugned judgment and decree dated 20/06/2023 (Annexure A/1) passed by the Family Court, Jashpur, District Jashpur, C.G. in Civil Suit No. 56A/2022 whereby decree for divorce dissolving the marriage dated 11/04/2016 holding it to be null and void and compensation/permanent alimony to the tune of Rs.10,00,000/- (Ten Lakhs) has been granted to the wife.

2. The appellant/plaintiff questioning the above stated decree passed by the Family Court to the extent directing him to pay Rs.10,00,000/- as compensation/permanent alimony :- (a) The appellant was appointed as Assistant Grade-II at Jashpur in November 2012, after which the respondent proposed marriage but he refused, whereupon she started pressurizing him and on 04.04.2016 forcibly entered his rented premises, threatened to commit suicide and later consumed poison, leading the appellant to hospitalize her and inform her family, who also began pressurizing him for marriage, and on 06.04.2016 she lodged a criminal complaint against the appellant and his family, due to which, under police and family pressure, a ceremony was conducted on 11.04.2016 at Jai Stambh, Village Ila, though without Hindu rituals and under coercion, after which she withdrew her complaint but no normal marital relationship developed and the respondent refused to accompany the appellant to Bilaspur for training or to live with his mother, instead staying with her parents while the parties lived together only intermittently for about one year.

(b) Thereafter, the respondent filed proceedings under Section 125 CrPC claiming maintenance of ₹4,000 per month which the Family Court on 10.12.2021 held could not be granted on the basis that since the ceremony was not in accordance with Hindu law or custom but was allowed only on the footing of a live-in relationship, thereafter the appellant filed a divorce petition under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the Act, 1955) on grounds of cruelty and desertion, in which the Family Court on 20.10.2022 again held that the marriage of 11.04.2016 was not legally valid and therefore refused to grant a decree of divorce, following which, on the basis of those findings, the appellant filed a petition under Section 11 of the Act, 1955 seeking declaration that the marriage was null and void for non- compliance with Section 5 and for coercion, and although the Family Court accepted that the marriage was void, it nevertheless by judgment dated 20.06.2023 directed payment of ₹10,00,000 as permanent alimony solely on the ground that the parties had resided together for about one year, which has given rise to the present appeal.

3. Learned counsel for the appellant/plaintiff, would submit that the decree for dissolving the marriage dated 11/04/2016 has been passed holding the marriage to be null and void, therefore, the passing of the order regarding grant of permanent alimony to the tune of Rs.10,00,000/- when the same was neither claimed by filing a sepa