Wife’s cruelty makes High Court grant divorce to man

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: A 54-year-old man whose wife is living separately from him for over 20 years was granted divorce by the High Court of Karnataka on grounds of cruelty. A division bench of the High Court comprising Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Vijaykumar A Patil found that the wife’s behaviour amounted to cruelty.

She had filed a complaint against him with the education department, which resulted in him spending a day in jail and being suspended for ten days. She had also filed a case against him alleging harassment in which he was acquitted. Moreover, she was living away from him since 2002. Considering all these factors, he was grated divorce by the HC, which had been denied by the Family Court.

The man from Doddaballapur approached the High Court in 2016 when he was 47 years old. He was married in 1993 and later obtained a job as a government schoolteacher. He sought divorce from his wife in 2005 alleging that his wife was forcing him to live with her parents. She had allegedly filed a false complaint against him leading to his arrest and being in judicial custody for a day. This also led to him being suspended from his job for ten days.

The Family Court in 2015 rejected his prayer for divorce on grounds of cruelty stating he had failed to prove the allegation. Following this, he approached the HC, which gave its judgment recently. Granting him the divorce, the HC said, “It is evident that the respondent has treated the appellant with cruelty. The parties are living separately since 2002.

However, the family court has failed to appreciate the aforesaid aspect of the matter. The impugned judgment insofar as it rejects the claim of the appellant seeking dissolution of marriage on the ground of cruelty is set aside. The marriage performed between the parties is dissolved by a decree of divorce under Section 13(ib) of the (Hindu Marriage) Act.”