Source: Patna High Court

Why in News?

Recently, the Patna High Court in the matter of Alok Bharti v. Jyoti Raj, has held that the leveling of false allegations by one spouse to the other having alleged illicit relations with different persons outside the wedlock amounted to mental cruelty.

What was the Background of Alok Bharti v. Jyoti Raj Case?

• The appellant (husband) and respondent (wife) married in terms of Hindu rites and customs in the year 2012.
• There were certain domestic issues as the respondent was not willing to live in husband’s matrimonial home.
• In 2016, the woman initiated legal proceedings by filing a police case, accusing her husband, in-laws, and six others of matrimonial torture and cruelty.
• In this backdrop, the appellant-husband filed a case before the Family Court under Sections 13 (1) (i-a) and 13(1) (i-b) of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (HMA).
• The Family Court declined the appellant’s petition.
• Thereafter, an appeal was filed before the Patna High Court which was later allowed by the Court.

What were the Court’s Observations?

• The division bench of Justices P B Bajathri and Ramesh Chand Malviya observed that the leveling of false allegation by one spouse to the other having alleged illicit relations with different persons outside the wedlock amounted to mental cruelty.
• The Court also held that the social torture by anyone of the spouses to the other, found to be as the mental torture and cruelty. Respondent harassing appellant in filing false cases of domestic violence and she has admitted certain allegations are false and such behaviors amounts to cruelty. It is also sufficient that if the cruelty is of such type, it becomes impossible for spouses to live together.
• The Court further added that each individual's dignity is to be valued. Privacy includes at its core the preservation of personal intimacies, the sanctity of family life, marriage, procreation, the home and sexual orientation. Privacy also connotes the right to be left alone.

What are the Relevant Legal Provisions?

Section 13(1) (i-a) of HMA

• This section deals with cruelty as a ground for divorce.
• Prior to the 1976 amendment in the HMA, cruelty was not a ground for claiming divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act.
• It was only a ground for claiming judicial separation under Section 10 of the Act.
• By the 1976 Amendment, the Cruelty was made ground for divorce.
• The word cruelty has not been defined in this Act.
• Generally, cruelty is any behavior which causes physical or mental, intentional or unintentional pain and agony.
• According to the law laid down by the Supreme Court in several judgments, there are two types of cruelty.
  • Physical cruelty - violent conduct causing pain to the spouse.
  • Mental cruelty – spouse is inflicted with any kind of mental stress or has to constantly go through mental agony.
• In Shobha Rani v. Madhukar Reddi (1988) the Supreme Court held that the word cruelty can have no fixed definition.
• In Mayadevi v. Jagdish Prasad (2007), the Supreme Court held that any kind of mental cruelty faced by either of the spouses not just the woman, but men as well, can apply for a divorce on grounds of cruelty.

Section 13(1) (i-b) of HMA

• This section deals with desertion as a ground for divorce.
• By the amendment of 1976, desertion was included as a ground for divorce under Section 13 (1) (i-b) of HMA. Before 1976, desertion was a ground for judicial separation but now it is a ground for both divorce and judicial separation.
• Section 13 (1) (i-b) of HMA deals with desertion as a ground for divorce and states that a marriage on a petition presented by either the husband or the wife, be dissolved by a decree of divorce on the ground that the other party has deserted the petitioner for a continuous period of not less than two years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition.
• The expression desertion means the desertion of the petitioner by the other party to the marriage without reasonable cause and without the consent of or against the wish of such party and includes the willful neglect of the petitioner by the other party to the marriage, and its grammatical variations and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly.
• For establishing desertion as a ground for divorce, the following essential requirements must be met:
  • The desertion must be voluntary.
  • Desertion must be without reasonable cause.
  • The desertion must be continuous and unjustified
  • The desertion must be deliberate and willful.
• Desertion can be terminated in two ways - by mutual consent or by resumption of cohabitation.