Source: Delhi High Court

Why in News?

Recently, the Delhi High Court in the matter of SS v. SR has held that father questioning the paternity of children and making unsubstantiated allegations of extra-marital affair against wife is an act of mental cruelty against the wife.

What was the Background of SS v. SR Case?

• In this case, the respondent and the appellant got married in the year 2005.
• Thereafter, the respondent revealed that she was not pregnant and had merely made false claims about her pregnancy to coerce him into marriage.
• The appellant has further averred that after the birth of the son on 24^th January 2008, the parents of the appellant accepted the respondent and asked the appellant and the respondent, to join them in their home, but the respondent flatly refused.
• The appellant claimed that he had been treated with cruelty and sought divorce on the ground of cruelty under Section 13 (1) (i-a) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (HMA).
• The learned Judge, Family Court extensively considered the evidence of both the parties and concluded that the appellant had made serious allegations against the character of the respondent; so much so, he even declined the parentage of his children and admitted in his evidence that he did not want to reside with the children.
• The Family Court dismissed the divorce petition.
• Aggrieved by the same, the appellant filed an appeal before the Delhi High Court.
• The High Court dismissed the appeal.

What were the Court’s Observations?

• A Division Bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna levelling of disgusting allegations of unchastity and indecent familiarity with a person outside wedlock and allegations of extra marital relationship, constitute grave assault on the character, honour, reputation, status as well as mental health of the spouse. Such scandalous, unsubstantiated aspersions of perfidiousness attributed to the spouse and not even sparing the children, would amount to worst form of insult and cruelty, sufficient by disentitle the appellant from seeking divorce.

What is Section 13(1) (i-a) of HMA?

About:

• 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 a physical or mental, intentional or unintentional.

Types of Cruelty:

• 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.

Case Laws

• 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.