Rajasthan High Court grants divorce to woman married under 'Aata-Sata' custom

The Jodhpur Bench of the Rajasthan High Court has set aside a family court order and granted divorce to a woman from Bikaner, holding that cruelty in matrimonial disputes need not be proved ''beyond reasonable doubt'' as required in criminal trials.

A division bench, comprising Justice Arun Monga and Justice Sunil Beniwal, observed that matrimonial disputes are to be decided on the principle of ''preponderance of probabilities'' and not on the stricter criminal law standard.

In a strongly-worded judgment, the court also condemned the traditional ''Aata-Sata'' marriage arrangement, terming it ''legally and morally bankrupt'' and described it as an ''inhuman barter system involving human lives''. The Aata-Sata, or ''give and take'' marriage, is an age-old custom practised in Rajasthan where two families exchange their daughters, including minors, for marriage.

The woman appellant got married on March 31, 2016, in Bikaner as per Hindu rites. On the same day, as per the ''Aata-Sata'' arrangement, her husband's minor sister was married to her brother.

But after attaining majority, the girl refused to accept the child marriage, triggering disputes between the two families.

The woman appellant alleged that as a result of this, she was subjected to physical and mental cruelty over dowry demands and was eventually thrown out of her matrimonial home on March 19, 2020, along with her minor daughter.

She subsequently lodged FIRs against her husband and father-in-law on allegations, including dowry harassment, following which the police filed a chargesheet.

The husband, in turn, lodged a complaint at Nayashahar police station against the woman's father and brother, following which proceedings under breach of peace provisions were initiated against them.

Amid the ongoing dispute, the woman approached the family court in Bikaner, seeking divorce.

However, the court dismissed her plea on September 24, 2025, and accepted the husband's contention that the wife voluntarily left the matrimonial home and that the criminal cases were filed merely to pressure the family after her husband's sister refused to accept her marriage when she was a minor.

The aggrieved wife then challenged the order at the high court. The counsel for the appellant woman argued that she suffered continuous mental and physical cruelty linked to dowry demands.

The husband, however, maintained that the matrimonial discord stemmed from his sister's refusal to accept the marriage.

Disagreeing with the family court's findings, the high court held that the lower court committed a ''serious error'' by conflating the external family dispute arising from the ''Aata-Sata'' arrangement with the issue of matrimonial cruelty between the spouses.

During the hearing, the court recorded the statement of the woman's counsel that she was willing to forgo past, present or future maintenance to secure peace of mind and dissolve the marriage.

Taking the statement on record, the court then allowed the woman's divorce petition.

The high court clarified that the decree of divorce would have no bearing on the pending criminal proceedings between the parties or on issues relating to child custody, which would continue independently in accordance with the law.

Referring to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, the court made severe observations against the ''Aata-Sata'' practice, observing that when marriages are arranged as reciprocal exchanges between families, especially involving minors, the practice turns into a coercive social mechanism where children, particularly girls, are reduced to a ''marital barter''.

The court further said that such arrangements resemble a ''matrimonial hostage taking'', where the life and liberty of one daughter becomes dependent upon the obedience of another.

''No custom is above the law,'' the court observed, adding that consent obtained after years of social conditioning during childhood cannot be treated as a ''free consent'' once the individual attains majority.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)