In its recent judgement, the Delhi High Court has granted divorce to a woman and particularly emphasised that mental cruelty covers financial instability of a spouse as a ground for divorce. In this case the appellant filed for an appeal in the high court when her plea to grant her divorce was dismissed in the family court. The appellant got married to the respondent in 1989 and had no children. They got separated in November 1996 after 7 years of their marriage. No effort for conciliation has taken place since then. The woman informed the court that she was working with a multi-national company prior to her marriage and it was represented to her that the man was a graduate from Delhi University and has an income of Rs 10,000 per month from different sources. She was under the perception that the family of the man has good status and reputation in the society and owned a double-and-a-half storey bungalow in Delhi. But it turned out that the man was neither a graduate nor employed and the money he had was given to him by her mother. She also alleged that the man and his family started demanding money from her after marriage. The man also raised questions on her chastity and making false allegations about her illicit relationships with her brother-in-law. The man denied all the arguments including the dowry and cruelty bestowed upon her.
The High Court observed that the couple have been living separately for the past 27 years and the women filed for divorce after 2 years of separation. While the respondent made several efforts to bring the appellant back and conciliate their relationship, there was no proper evidence to prove his sincerity. The Division Bench including Justice Suresh Kumar and Justice Neena Bansal Krishna noted that the couple is unable to sustain their relationship moreover, the grounds of cruelty and desertion are clearly fulfilled as mentioned in Section 13(i)(a) and Section 13(i)(b) respectively of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. The bench highlighted that the husband’s financial instability is bound to create a sense of mental anxiety to the wife and in the particular case it is easy to decipher the mental trauma of the appellant as she was independent and working. The huge disparity in the financial status of the husband and wife caused troubles leading to an unhealthy relationship between them.
The court held that a death relationship only brings pain and agony and thus, granted divorce to the appellant.
Written by Shubhi Yadav, University Institute of Legal Studies, Panjab University. As an intern under Legal Vidhiya.
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