-
Says minor marital disputes are not cruelty
-
The court upholds a family court ruling, observing that ordinary disagreements cannot justify divorce without sufficient evidence of mental cruelty
The Telangana High Court has dismissed a non-resident Indian (NRI) husband’s appeal seeking divorce, ruling that minor quarrels and routine disagreements between spouses do not, by themselves, amount to mental cruelty warranting the dissolution of a marriage.
A division bench comprising Justices K Lakshman and K Sujana upheld the family court’s decision to refuse a divorce, noting that the husband’s allegations of mental harassment against his wife were not supported by sufficient evidence.
The couple married in 2009 and have a 16-year-old daughter. They began living separately on March 6, 2011, less than two years after their marriage.
The husband subsequently approached the court seeking a divorce, alleging that his wife had subjected him to mental harassment and threatened to die by suicide. He also claimed that her parents had pressured him to live at their house, making it difficult for him to continue the marriage.
-
The wife denied the allegations and opposed the divorce. She told the court that her family had provided Rs 6.5 lakh in cash and 10 tolas of gold at the time of the wedding
-
She alleged that her husband and his family later harassed her for an additional Rs 5 lakh
She maintained that she wanted to continue the marriage and was willing to live with her husband.
After the family court rejected the husband’s divorce petition, he challenged the decision before the High Court.
The bench found no adequate evidence to substantiate his claims of mental cruelty. It observed that ordinary marital disagreements and minor disputes could not automatically be treated as serious psychological harassment warranting divorce.
Upholding the family court’s order, the High Court dismissed the husband’s appeal.
The ruling reiterates the importance of assessing allegations of mental cruelty on the basis of evidence and the circumstances of each case, rather than treating routine differences between spouses as sufficient grounds for ending a marriage.
