A Division Bench of Justices Goutam Bhaduri and NK Chandravanshi while hearing a petition filed by a husband challenging the order issued by a family Court in Korba dated 27th February 2017, observed that if a wife insists on separating her husband from his parents and threatens him that she will file a false case of dowry demand, in that case she is committing cruelty.
From the evidence presented it was concluded that marriage lasted for a mere 2 months, and disagreements started. The wife was frequently at her parents house, rather than at her matrimonial house. Even the husband’s father-in-law advised him to leave the matrimonial house and live with them. Even in the conjugal rights settlement agreement she specifically stated to live with her husband only if he lived separately from his parents.
Also, the Court disagreed with the Family Court’s observation, that as no police complaint was filed, the couple might be able to settle in the future.
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Cruelty:
can be explained as the conduct complained of should be “grave and weighty” so as to come to the conclusion that the suffering party can’t live with the other party. It should be more than the normal quarrels of married life. Thus, conducts that should amount to cruelty shall be of a grave nature, which doesn’t always mean physical violence. It could be understood through the following:
- Physical violence
- Committing adultery and even publicly accepting it
- Falsely accusing the spouse committing adultery
- Constantly yelling, showing anger, abusing the spouse
- Demoralising or restricting the spouse to such an extent that he/she is completely dependent on the other.
Cruelty as Ground for Divorce:
cruelty initially was not a ground for divorce. However, after the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Narayni Ganesh Dastane v Sucheta Narayan Dastane,1975 an amendment was brought and cruelty was also added as the ground for divorce.
In the landmark judgment of Mayadevi v Jagdish Prasad in February 2007, it was held by the Supreme Court, any kind of mental cruelty faced by any of the spouses, can apply for divorce on the cruelty’s ground.
Other Laws:
Section 498A of IPC, deals with the offense of cruelty against a wife by her husband and/or in-laws
The woman shall legally marry to her husband
A woman must be subjected to some sort of marital cruelty
Shall be committed by a husband or in-laws
If committed by the husband, he shall be liable for imprisonment up to three years with fine.
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