Recently, the division bench of Justices Soumen Sen and Uday Kumar, held that wife forcing her husband to get seprated from his husband amounts to Cruelty under section 498A of IPC. The bench further added, its common practices in Indian families to live with his parents even after marriage and if his wife makes any attempt to separate him from his parents, there should be some justifiable reason for that.
"Indian culture nurtures the concept of pious obligation of the son to maintain his parents. If a wife makes an attempt to deviate the son from the normal practice and normal custom of the society, she must have some justifiable reason for that. The wife wanted the husband to get separated from his family. It is not common practice for a son in India to get separated from parents at the instance of the wife," the bench noted.
Case Brief
In the said matter, The bench was hearing a plea filed by a wife challenging the previous orders of a family court in Pashim Midnapur granting divorce to the husband on the ground of cruelty. The family court had dissolved the July 2, 2001 marriage of the couple. The Husband submitted that his wife used to call him ''Coward".
The bench noted several instances of rude behaviour on the part of the wife including her belligerent attitude towards the husband and his family.
"Thus, the desire of appellant to have separate residence with her husband away from in-laws is not based on justifiable reasons, as such it amounts to cruelty. Normally no husband would tolerate such acts of wife and no son would like to be separated from his parents and other family members. The persistent effort of the wife to constrain the husband to be separated from the family would be torturous for the husband," the bench opined.
The Court further noted that the wife had filed a false complaint against the husband which cost him his government job.
"After hearing about his service, she stated that there will be no compromise and she will not let him join his service. These facts amount to mental cruelty on husband," the bench held.
Long separation, mental and physical torture, unwillingness of party to live together, has left no scope to repair their marital bond and in such a situation, the marriage has become a fiction though supported by a legal tie, the Court said.
By refusing to sever that tie, the law in such cases, does not serve the sanctity of marriage; on the contrary, it shows scant regard for the feelings and emotions of the parties which may lead to mental cruelty.
So the denial to grant a decree of divorce would be disastrous for the parties, the bench opined while dismissing the wife's appeal.
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