While Ascertaining Acts Of Mental Cruelty, Courts Must Look At Married Life As A Whole And Not Few Isolated Incidents: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has observed that while looking at acts of 'mental cruelty', the courts must look at the married life of a couple as a whole and not merely a few isolated incidents.

A division bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Neena Bansal Krishna also observed that mere filing of an FIR by wife is not sufficient to prove the allegations of cruelty and dowry harassment without being proved by cogent evidence.

The court made the observations while dismissing a wife’s appeal against a family court order dissolving marriage between her and her husband on the ground of cruelty under Section 13(1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

Upholding the divorce decree, the bench noted that the parties got married in 2015 and the wife left the matrimonial home in 2019. It further noted that though a settlement was arrived between the parties after which they lived separately, however, their differences could not be resolved and they finally separated in 2019.

The court observed that the wife had claimed harassment on account of dowry and that she was abused by the husband and his family members, but none of the said acts could be proved by evidence.

“In this context, it may be observed that the term has been inserted in the Settlement Deed as a mere precaution and in light of lack of any evidence, the same cannot be relied on to prove harassment on account of dowry,” the court said.

On wife’s allegation that her brother-in-law caught hold of her hand and molested her one day when she was alone, the bench said that no evidence was provided by her.

“To conclude, not only criminal case under Section 498-A has been filed against the respondent and his family members on the ground of dowry demand, but also allegations of molestation have been made against the brother-in-law, which have not been substantiated in the present case,” the court said.

Furthermore, the bench said that even if it is believed that it was the husband who had left the wife at the gates of her parents’ house, it was clear that the wife was cruel to the husband to the extent that because of her acts, he found it extremely difficult to live with her.

“Thus, there exists a cause for such abandonment and consequently, the respondent cannot be held guilty of desertion,” the bench said.

Case Title: PREETI v. VIKAS

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Del) 791

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