Withholding Mutual Consent For Divorce In A Failed Marriage Is Cruelty: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court has said that withholding mutual consent to dissolve a failed marriage amounts to cruelty.

A Division Bench comprising Justice A.Muhamed Mustaque and Justice Sophy Thomas relied on the concept of "no fault divorce" to state people are starting to realise that there is a "sensible way" of parting on mutually agreed terms.

The remarks were made while hearing the plea of a husband aggrieved by a Family Court order refusing divorce. The divorce petition was filed in the year 2011 and settlement attempts had failed. The husband had offered Rs.10 lakhs and ten cents of land to the respondent-wife but she raised her demands.

"More than a decade has lapsed through the corridors of the Court," the bench lamented. It said Courts are meant for genuine litigants and not those with egos and idiosyncratic behaviour.

Husband alleged that respondent married him only for extracting money and that she had an illicit relationship. The wife denied all allegations. 

"We see, in these types of cases, the parties are trying the court and not the court trying the parties,” Court remarked. It said there was nothing left in the marriage to prove that the couple could stay together. It held that the fight between the parties was not for any justifiable cause but to win the egos and to wreak vengeance against each other. 

Reliance was placed upon the Apex Court decision in Samar Ghosh v. Jaya Ghosh (2007) to state that refusal of one party to severe the matrimonial ties even after realizing that their matrimonial bond was beyond repair, would constitute mental cruelty to the other partner.

Thus, the Court dissolved the marriage and directed the husband to honour his offer of Rs. 10 lakh and ten cents land.

Counsel for the Petitioner: Advocate P Narayanan

Counsel for the Respondents: Advocates G Sreekumar (Chelur) and N L Bitto

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Ker) 503

Case title: Sreedharan v. Ahsa

Case number: MAT.APPEAL No. 578 Of 2015

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