The Allahabad High Court recently observed that the mere failure of a wife to care for her husband's elderly parents does not necessarily constitute cruelty, as such claims are inherently subjective.

This ruling came from a Division Bench comprising Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh and Justice Donadi Ramesh, while hearing a man's appeal for divorce. The man argued that his wife had neglected her "moral duty" to care for his aged parents during his absence due to his police service.

“Mere failure to take care of aged parents of a spouse that too when the spouse [husband] had chosen to live away from his matrimonial home, may never amount to cruelty. What exact situation may prevail in each household is not for the Court to examine in detail or to lay down any law or principle in that regard,” said the Court.

The husband had initially approached the family court in Moradabad seeking divorce on the grounds of cruelty. However, the family court rejected his plea, prompting him to file an appeal before the High Court. The High Court upheld the lower court's decision, ruling that no case of cruelty had been established, and affirmed that the trial court had not erred in dismissing the divorce suit.