FAMILY COURTS TO GIVE AMPLE TIME TO FILE WRITTEN STATEMENTS AND NOT CLOSE THE RIGHT TO DO SO IN HASTE

High Court urges Family Courts to not close the right to file written statement, or to lead evidence or to close cross examination in haste.

The Delhi High Court has especially urged Family Courts in matrimonial matters to separate the chaff from the grain as a lot of these matters are hyped up and the Courts need to arrive at the fact of the matters in order to ascertain the truth and to adjudicate upon them.

Justice J.R. Midha highlighted the importance as well as difficulty in ascertaining the truth in matrimonial litigations, and observed, “This Court is of the view that it is the duty of the Courts to search the truth and then do justice; this is the very object for which Courts are created. The Courts have to remove chaff from the grain to separate falsehood from truth. The matrimonial litigation begins with parties mounting claims on each other, which are often exaggerated and are magnified to such an extent that the truth and falsehood become so inextricably mixed up, that it is difficult, if not impossible, to separate them. It becomes even more difficult to find the truth if the right to file the written statement or the right to lead evidence or right of cross-examination of any witness is closed in undue haste. Therefore, in matrimonial litigations, the Family Courts should take due care and caution in closing the valuable right to file the written statement or to lead the evidence or the right of cross-examination of any witness.”

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