Minor differences of opinion between spouses cannot be termed cruelty: HC

S Shyam Prasad | NT

Bengaluru: The High Court has said that minor differences between couples cannot be construed as cruelty and become a reason to seek divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act.

“It is a well-established principle of law that when a person files a petition for dissolution of marriage on the ground of cruelty he has to plead specific instances of cruelty and the same is required to be established in evidence. It is a well-settled principle of law that a minor and trivial difference of opinion between the husband and wife cannot be construed as cruelty within the meaning of Section 13(1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act,” the division bench of Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Anant Ramanath Hegde said in their judgement recently.

A 33-year-old husband from Sira in Tumakuru had approached the Family Court in 2012 seeking divorce from his wife whom he had married in 2005.

They had a child in 2007. He had alleged cruelty by her and also desertion, and sought dissolution of the marriage.

The Family Court had rejected his petition, so he approached the HC in 2018. The husband had produced two witnesses who had taken part in a discussion on the dispute between the husband and wife. But both did not support his case and denied any such meeting.

The HC pointed to this and said, “This Court has perused the petition averments. There is no specific plea relating to instances of cruelty in the petition. The particulars of incidents which led to cruelty are lacking in the petition. As far as the plea relating to the desertion is concerned, the husband has not even pleaded that the wife has deserted his company with an intention to put a permanent end to the relationship.”

The husband had claimed that his wife had deserted him. The HC however found that he was trying to sell the family property and the wife had sought partition so that her minor son’s share was not sold off.

“It is forthcoming from the evidence that she filed a suit for partition and separate possession to secure the property rights of the minor child as there was a threat of alienation of the property. The act of filing the suit keeping in mind the interest of the minor child cannot be construed as an act of desertion,” the HC said in its judgement.

The HC said that the person seeking dissolution of marriage on the ground of desertion has to specifically plead that the deserting spouse has deserted the company of the other spouse with an intention to put a permanent end to the relationship.

“It is also required to plead that the spouse deserted the company for more than two years prior to the filing of the petition,” the HC said.

Upholding the Family Court order rejecting the application for divorce, the HC said, “Having reappreciated the evidence on record with reference to the pleadings, this Court is of the view that the Trial Court is justified in holding that the petition seeking dissolution of marriage on the ground of cruelty and desertion has to be dismissed and has rightly dismissed the petition.” (MFA 1066/2018)