The Delhi High Court held that unilateral withdrawal of the husband and wife from the divorce agreement with mutual consent is tantamount to mental cruelty. The court made this comment while upholding the family court's order to divorce the husband.

A division bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna, citing high court decisions, emphasized that when spouses agree to divorce by mutual consent, unilateral withdrawal of consent by the spouse amounts to cruelty towards the spouse.

The bench said, "Thus, such conduct by the appellant or wife led the husband to believe that their disputes were about to end and then to step back from trying to reach a settlement, which could create uneasiness, cruelty, and uncertainty in the mind of the husband."

It is clear that the fight between the parties was not based on any reasonable grounds but was a war between egos driven by a desire to take vengeance against the spouse. Thus, such unilateral withdrawal from divorce by mutual consent amounts to cruelty.

The bench reached this conclusion while hearing an appeal filed by a woman against a family court order dated March 20, 2017, which had allowed her husband's plea for divorce on the grounds of cruelty.

The couple married in December 2001, but the marriage only lasted for thirteen months as they separated in January 2003.