Forcing Wife To Do Household Chores Even If Her Health Doesn't Permit It Amounts To Cruelty: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has observed that forcefully asking a wife to do household chores if her health does not permit her to do so amounts to cruelty.

“In our opinion, when a wife indulges herself to do household chores, she does it by affection and love for her family. However, if her health or other circumstances do not permit her to do so, forcefully asking her to do house hold chores would certainly be cruelty,” a division bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Neena Bansal Krishna said.

The court made the observations while dissolving the marriage between a husband and wife under Section 13 (1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

It allowed the appeal moved by the husband and set aside the family court order dismissing his petition seeking divorce from his wife on the grounds of cruelty by her.

The parties got married in 2011 and a son was born in 2013. The husband alleged that his marriage was strained right from its inception due to the wife's indifference or disrespect towards him and his family.

He alleged that the wife was of quarrelsome nature and was not cooperative as she neither participated in the day-to-day chores nor contributed financially to the household expenses despite being employed. He claimed that the wife often acted as per her whims and fancies and used to spend more time at her maternal home.

On the other hand, the wife took a stand that it was the husband who had subjected her to cruelty by regularly mistreating and humiliating her.

She alleged that even his parents harassed her with illegal dowry demands that persisted even after the birth of their child due to which she suffered grave mental agony.

Allowing the husband's appeal, the court observed that the wife, on the pretext of taking care of the baby, frequently visited her parents' house for a longer period, thereby depriving the husband and his parents of their love for the child.

It further observed that though the wife claimed that she was forced to live with her parents because the infant child needed care and she herself was forced by her in-laws to do household chores immediately after delivery of the child, she admitted in her cross-examination that there was a maid servant at her matrimonial home to take care of the household responsibilities.

The bench said that it was admitted by the wife that a maid servant was already hired, and thus, she was not forced upon.

While rejecting her allegations, the court said that the wife did not file any complaint under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, for recovery of her istridhan or jewellery articles, which allegedly were in possession of the appellant, which showed that she had “decided to quit in a planned manner.”

On the wife's allegations that the husband had an extramarital affair, the court said that such kind of allegations which assassinate the character of the spouse amount to the highest level of cruelly, which no doubt shall shake the foundation of their marriage.

“It is apparent that respondent in public, treated the appellant in such a manner which caused loss to his respect, due to which appellant has suffered immense cruelty at the hands of respondent. It is not only that respondent raised hue and cry at appellant's workplace but also went to his relative's place to tarnish his image,” the court said.

Title: X v. Y

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 324

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