A bench comprising Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Abhay S. Oka was informed that the couple stayed together only for 40 days and they have been living separately for almost two years now. Emphasizing that marriage is not a casual event in India, the bench said, "we have not reached western standards of marriage today and divorce tomorrow". Declining to annul the marriage on husband's plea, the bench said the powers under Article 142 cannot be exercised to annul the marriage when one party is unwilling. The bench noted that the couple were highly educated -- husband ran an NGO and the wife had permanent residence permission in Canada, and added the couple should make efforts to resolve the differences.