HIGH COURT: Minor fights between husband and wife are not cruelty under divorce law

ALLAHABAD

The Allahabad High Court has said in an order that if small fights between husband and wife start being seen as cruelty under divorce laws, then many marriages will break and everyone will start seeking divorce on this basis.

While passing the above said comment the division bench Comprising  Mr Justice SD Singh and Mr Justice Shiv Shankar Prasad, court refused to consider every small quarrel between husband and wife as cruelty.

These observation were made in the petition filed by  Rohit Chaturvedi of Ghaziabad , pleading judicial separation to the married couple living separately instead of giving direct permission for divorce.

The Court also said that if a person accuses his spouse of having an affair outside marriage, the allegation should be clearly stated and should not be left to the court’s imagination during divorce proceedings.

The allegation of one party having illicit relations with the other party should be clear in every case.If the courts begin to recognize and act on small disputes or incidents and read them as fulfilling elements of cruelty then many marriages, where the parties are not enjoying good relations,will end without any actual cruelty.

The petitioner had accused the wife of indulging in illicit marital relations and of being cruel to him.As per the facts of the case, the couple was married in 2013.

The court was told that the woman had also filed a dowry case against her husband.The petition said that the couple lived together till July 2014 but are not together since then.

Later the husband sought divorce in the family court citing cruelty by the wife. Meanwhile, the wife accused her husband of having an affair with her sister-in-law.The husband filed this petition after the family court refused to grant divorce.