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.
The Jharkhand High Court has upheld the dismissal of a husband’s divorce petition, holding that a wife’s mere wish that her husband live as a ‘gharjamai’ at her parents’ home, without any compulsion, does not amount to cruelty under Section 13(1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act. The Court also held that a wife’s frequent visits to her parental home cannot be termed cruelty, and that the husband had led no evidence to substantiate his allegations.
Reversing a family court that had dismissed a wife’s divorce petition for want of specific proof of cruelty, the Patna High Court granted her a decree, holding that a husband who kept his wife out of the matrimonial home for 13 years, and never contested her allegations, had by that very conduct inflicted cruelty. The Court held it could not grant divorce on irretrievable breakdown alone, but that the prolonged deprivation of married life amounted to cruelty.
The Supreme Court held that persistent refusal of sexual relations without reasonable cause constitutes mental cruelty and can be a valid ground for divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act. Upholding a Rajasthan High Court judgment, the Court dismissed a wife’s appeal challenging the dissolution of marriage.
