What is the Shar’i ruling on a husband taking back his wife after divorcing her in absentia, knowing that there was physical contact between the spouses after the marriage contract but before consummation?

If you enjoyed your wife before consummation, without a valid seclusion, or if you divorced her and her waiting period (iddah) expired, then she is irrevocably divorced from you (bā’inat), and you must perform a new marriage contract for her return. However, if you had a valid seclusion with her and then divorced her before consummation, some scholars permit her return without a new contract. If you took her back verbally or through intercourse before the expiry of her waiting period, she has returned to your marital bond.