The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has dismissed a husband’s appeals against the refusal of divorce on grounds of cruelty and desertion and a decree of restitution of conjugal rights for his wife, holding that quarrels, family friction and separation do not amount to cruelty or desertion without proof of conduct of the required gravity.
Holding that liability under Section 82 of the BNS attaches to the spouse who already has a subsisting marriage and not to the person they marry, the Madras High Court granted anticipatory bail to a woman arrayed as the second accused, observing that on her case she and the complainant stand as two women wronged by the same man rather than as accused and victim.
The Supreme Court acquitted a man in his wife’s suicide case, observing that normal marital differences may sometimes lead to spouses not speaking for days. The Court held that a husband cannot be convicted for cruelty under Section 498A IPC solely because he did not communicate with his wife for a period of time.
