The Supreme Court of India ruled that a wife’s refusal to cook or do household chores isn’t cruelty, calling such expectations outdated. It said “husbands must share domestic duties, stressing marriage is a partnership, not hiring a maid, You are not marrying a maid. You are marrying a life partner,”
The Delhi High Court set aside an FIR and criminal proceedings against a woman accused under Section 307 IPC, prioritising restoration of family ties over retribution. Observing the relationship resembled that of a mother and child, the court said, “if justice is ever to be tempered with mercy, this is a fit case for such an approach.”
