In a significant ruling, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has declared that calling a husband a ‘hijra’ (transgender) is an act of cruelty. This decision came during the hearing of a divorce appeal where the wife contested the family court’s decree favoring her husband.
The bench, comprised of Justice Sudhir Singh and Justice Jasjit Singh Bedi, upheld the lower court’s decision which was influenced by the testimony of the husband’s mother. She reported that her daughter-in-law frequently insulted her son by calling him a hijra and accusing her of giving birth to a transgender child.
The court noted that such derogatory remarks aimed at questioning a person’s gender identity amount to cruelty. “Terming the respondent-husband as Hijda (transgender) and calling his mother to have given birth to a transgender, is an act of cruelty,” stated the bench in its verdict.
The case also revealed troubling allegations from both parties. The husband accused his wife of having an addiction to pornography and mobile gaming, claiming she imposed unreasonable demands regarding their intimate life and demeaned his physical fitness.
Conversely, the wife denied these accusations and argued that she was wrongfully ousted from her matrimonial home and subjected to mistreatment by her in-laws. She claimed they administered intoxicating medications and used mystical practices to dominate her, assertions her husband and in-laws denied.
Highlighting the six years of separation between the couple, the High Court observed that the marriage was irretrievably broken, referring to it as “dead wood.” This conclusion affirms the family court’s judgment that continuing the marriage was untenable, thereby dismissing the woman’s appeal and maintaining the divorce decree.
