Prohibition against using courts as battlefields to settle scores

Spouses locked in matrimonial disputes cannot be permitted to utilize courts of law as personal battlefields to settle scores and choke the judicial machinery with malicious litigation. Filing dozens of overlapping and repetitive cases across multiple jurisdictions places an unwarranted burden on judicial infrastructure and frustrates the administration of justice. When litigation is pursued purely out of vengeance, harassment, or spite, it defeats the noble purpose for which legal remedies are instituted. Parties who engage in reciprocal legal warfare over trivial matters undermine the sanctity of legal forums and cause systemic delays for other litigants. Courts possess the inherent responsibility to put an end to such vexatious legal campaigns by exercising extraordinary powers to terminate fruitless proceedings. Restricting unending litigation brings much-needed finality to disputes that have already consumed decades of judicial time and energy. Mutual vindictiveness cannot be allowed to masquerade as legitimate legal redressal under any circumstances. (Neha Lal v. Abhishek Kumar | 2026 INSC 73)