The Kerala High Court has ruled that a spouse’s insistence on living separately from the husband’s family, without any convincing justification, can amount to matrimonial cruelty and may constitute a valid ground for divorce.
A Division Bench comprising Justices Sathish Ninan and P. Krishna Kumar observed that a demand for a separate residence, made in the absence of sufficient reasons, is in itself capable of causing mental cruelty within a marriage.
The case arose from an appeal filed by a husband challenging a family court’s decision that had refused to grant him divorce under Section 13(1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1956.
The couple married in 2015 while the husband was employed in Dubai. Shortly after the wedding, they moved to Dubai and began living in rented accommodation along with the husband’s parents. In 2016, during the final stage of her pregnancy, the wife returned to her parental home in India. After the birth of their daughter, however, she did not rejoin her husband overseas.
According to the husband, his wife made it clear that she would return only if he arranged separate accommodation away from his parents. He further alleged that several incidents during the marriage, including the conduct of a naming ceremony for their child without informing him, amounted to cruelty.
The wife denied these allegations and maintained that the real source of tension was interference from her mother-in-law, which, according to her, prevented the couple from maintaining a harmonious relationship.
The family court had earlier dismissed the husband’s petition, finding that there was no major conflict between the spouses and that the wife’s objections were primarily directed at her mother-in-law’s involvement in their lives.
Re-examining the matter, the High Court took note of a telephonic conversation between the wife and her father-in-law in which she reportedly acknowledged that she had no grievance against her mother-in-law. The Bench observed that this admission weakened her claim of ill-treatment and cast doubt on the justification for demanding a separate residence.
The Court concluded that the demand to live separately lacked a reasonable basis and therefore amounted to cruelty.
Another factor that weighed with the Bench was the prolonged separation between the parties, who had been living apart for more than nine years.
Holding that the husband’s allegations stood established, the High Court allowed the appeal and dissolved the marriage on the ground of matrimonial cruelty.
