The Bombay High Court has upheld a family court’s order granting divorce to a man on the grounds of cruelty, ruling that denial of physical intimacy, constant suspicion of extra-marital affairs, and public humiliation by the wife amount to cruelty under matrimonial law.
A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale dismissed the wife’s petition challenging the Pune family court’s 2015 divorce decree. The woman had also sought ₹1 lakh per month as maintenance, which the High Court declined.
The couple had married in 2013 but separated in December 2014. The husband approached the family court seeking divorce on the ground of cruelty, citing several instances. According to his claims, his wife repeatedly denied him a physical relationship, falsely accused him of infidelity, embarrassed him in front of friends, family, and colleagues, and behaved indifferently towards his specially-abled sister.
In her plea before the High Court, the wife argued that she was harassed by her in-laws but maintained that she still loved her husband and did not want the marriage dissolved.
The High Court, however, observed, “The appellant’s (woman’s) behaviour with the man’s employees is sure to cause agony to him. Similarly, humiliating the man in front of his friends is also cruelty to him.” The bench also took note of her cold and indifferent treatment towards the husband’s specially-abled sister, holding that such conduct added to the husband’s mental distress.
The court concluded that the marriage had broken down irretrievably, leaving no chance of reconciliation, and dismissed the wife’s plea.
With this order, the High Court effectively sealed the divorce granted by the Pune family court, recognizing the husband’s allegations of cruelty as valid under the law
