Futility of preserving formal legal ties in dead marriages

Preserving a formal legal marriage on paper when emotional, physical, and social bonds have been entirely obliterated for over a decade serves no valid public policy or legislative intent. Legal technicalities and rigid adherence to statutory fault grounds cannot override the practical reality of a marriage that has suffered a total and irremediable collapse. Continuing a dead matrimonial relationship only perpetuates bitterness, psychological distress, and continuous legal harassment for the individuals trapped within it. Recognizing that a marriage is beyond salvage protects human dignity and allows individuals the opportunity to move forward with their lives in peace. Courts acting as courts of equity must step in to cut the knot of a shattered relationship when all avenues of reconciliation have been exhaustively tested and failed. Judicial sanction of an irretrievably broken marriage brings an honorable and definitive end to years of fruitless suffering. (Neha Lal v. Abhishek Kumar | 2026 INSC 73)