Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: August 31, 2022 at 20:09 IST
According to a recent ruling by the Chhattisgarh High Court, a wife who repeatedly visited her husband’s workplace while abusing and insulting him and making a scene in front of the husband’s colleagues amounts to cruelty, which entitles the husband to a divorce.
“Complaint by wife against husband to Minister claiming a transfer of husband on the ground of illicit relation with a lady colleague without any substance would amount to cruelty,” the judgment said.
An appeal by a woman challenging the family court’s ruling granting divorce on the grounds of cruelty by the wife was being heard by a division Bench of Justices Goutam Bhaduri and Radhakishan Agrawal.
The Bench further observed that it amounts to cruelty when wife complaints to the Chief Minister that her husband was having an illicit affair with a female colleague and should be transferred.
Therefore, the Court upheld the family court’s decision to award the husband a divorce.
To give some history, the couple had been married since 2010 and had a child out of the marriage. The respondent/husband claimed that the wife used to spend money of her own free will and opposed the husband’s visits to his parents.
If any questions concerning the expenses were raised, abuses would be returned. Additionally, it was claimed that the wife obtained 5 vehicles on credit without the husband’s knowledge and purposely stopped to discharge her household responsibilities including taking care of the child.
The wife filed the present appeal because she was aggrieved with that order.
The wife’s advocate claimed that the family court did not recognise how cruelly the wife was treated by her husband.
The Bench stated that the assessment of the evidence showed that the wife had abused the husband in the past over trivial matters.
The Court also emphasised some of the mother’s actions. One was a report or letter the wife sent to the Chief Minister asking for her husband’s transfer.
The Court stated that, with the exception of the wife’s oral confession, no other evidence existed to support the wife’s allegations of illegal interactions.
The Court made a significant observation, noting that the wife’s own sister had deposed against her.
Therefore, the Bench dismissed the appeal and upheld the Family Court’s decision.
