The recent ruling by the Calcutta High Court states that a husband can obtain a divorce from his wife on grounds of mental cruelty if she attempts to force him to separate from his parents and insults him by calling him a ‘coward and unemployed.’ The court emphasized that in Indian families, it is customary for a son to live with his parents even after getting married, and if the wife wants the husband to break away from this tradition, she needs to have a valid reason. The bench consisting of Justices Soumen Sen and Uday Kumar stated that Indian culture upholds the principle of a son’s duty to support his parents, and any attempt by the wife to interfere with this customary practice must be backed by a justifiable reason. The court pointed out that the wife in this case had demanded that the husband separate from his family without any valid reason, which is not a common practice in India.
The bench in this case found that there were no valid reasons for the wife to demand the husband to separate from his parents, other than minor issues and financial concerns. The husband had already moved out of his parent’s house and rented a separate place just to ensure a peaceful married life. The court opined that the wife’s demand for separate residence without a justifiable reason amounts to cruelty as it is not common for a son to live separately from his parents, and it could be torturous for the husband to be constrained to separate from his family.
The Calcutta High Court was considering a case where a wife had challenged the decision of a family court that granted divorce to her husband on the grounds of cruelty. The couple had been married on July 2, 2001, and the family court had dissolved their marriage on May 25, 2009. The husband claimed that his wife had been abusive and quarrelsome, and had called him a ‘coward and unemployed’ with the intention of getting him to separate from his parents.
The court examined the wife’s behavior towards her husband and his family, and found several instances of her rude and belligerent attitude. The wife’s personal diary revealed that she had not wanted to marry the husband and had tried to stop the marriage as she wanted to marry someone else. Despite this, the husband had made efforts to accommodate her. The court observed that the wife’s behavior towards her husband was unjustifiable, and her attempts to separate him from his parents amounted to cruelty.
The bench also observed that the wife had filed a false complaint against her husband, which had caused him to lose his government job. The Court held that this behavior on the part of the wife constituted mental cruelty towards the husband.
The long period of separation, along with the mental and physical torture suffered by the husband, as well as the unwillingness of both parties to live together, had rendered the marriage irreparable. The Court opined that by forcing the couple to remain in this unhappy union, the law was disregarding the parties’ emotions and feelings, which could lead to further mental cruelty.
In light of these factors, the bench dismissed the wife’s appeal, stating that denying the husband’s request for a divorce would be disastrous for both parties.
Source: https://www.barandbench.com/news/forcing-husband-get-separated-from-parents-calling-him-coward-unemployed-cruelty-calcutta-high-court