Jharkhand High Court in a Verdict said, “Family Court is a Secular Court”

GG News Bureau

Ranchi, 6^th May. The Jharkhand High Court delivering an important verdict has said that the Family Court is a secular court and section seven of the Family Court Act applies equally to all. This act is a secular law that applies to people of every religion.

The Family Court cannot refuse to hear on the basis of religion, caste and prevailing social rules (customary law). The court of Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice Anubha Rawat Chaudhary rejected the order of the Family Court of Ranchi, with this direction, in which the application for the divorce of a youth of Oraon tribe was rejected. The family court had said that the Oraon tribe has its own customary law. This matter should be resolved according to this customary law. This order of the Family Court was challenged in the High Court. After the hearing on this, the Jharkhand High Court gave this important decision.

The High Court has said in the order that this decision of the Family Court is absolutely wrong, because under the Family Court Act, any matter of any caste, religion and community is eligible to be heard and falls under the jurisdiction of the lower court. According to the Family Court Act, this case should be heard. It is not correct to reject it community-wise. The High Court remanded the matter to the Family Court for hearing.

The young man and woman of the Oraon tribe were married in a traditional wedding in 2015. After a few days of marriage the man applied for divorce. He said that the girl has an affair with someone else and it is difficult to live together in such a situation. The lower court had dismissed the petition saying that Oraon has a social legislation for the tribe and notwithstanding the social legislation; their case cannot be heard under the Family Court Act.