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Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday gave a nod to a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) to give a go-ahead for a mutual-divorce from her husband through social media app Skype. Justice Bharati Dangre overturned an order that refused to register the petition of a woman for divorce who is based in the US. The earlier order refused to do so as the woman was not physically present to file for divorce. The court now allowed the father of the woman to pursue the case giving him the power of attorney holder instead of the woman herself.

"Due to globalization and since educated young persons are crossing the borders of India, it is not possible to remain present (to file petitions)," said the high court. Without any reference to the law or the earlier judgments in the case, the bench said that the family court judge had hardly stated that the husband and wife should be present when the petition is filed. Justice Dangre also referred to a case where the couple had been allowed marriage counselling via webcam.

"There is no legal lacunae in the filing of the petition through a registered power of attorney... the family court will not insist on the presence of the parties before the court and would arrange for the consent terms to be recorded either through Skype or adopting any other technology," the judge said.

The concerning couple got married in 2002 and had been separated since 2016. The couple sought divorce with the consent and approached the court under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act. Under the provision of the act, the couple is allowed to approach the family court if they have been living separately for a year. The family had rejected the petition citing that the woman was not present physically to file the petition.