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ASHIM KUMAR BANERJEE AND DIPANKARDATIA, JJ.
Smti Ananta - Appellant
V
Ramchander -Respondent
F. A. No. 003 of 2008
Decided on : 24-11-2008
DIVORCE - MENTAL CRUELTY - DESERTION - INTERPRETATION OF LEGAL PROVISIONS - EVIDENCE EVALUATION - COURT'S DISCRETION: 1. Mental cruelty, as defined by American Jurisprudence, refers to a course of unprovoked conduct towards one's spouse that causes embarrassment, humiliation, and anguish, rendering their life miserable and unendurable. 2. To constitute cruelty, the conduct must be "grave and weighty" to conclude that the petitioner spouse cannot reasonably be expected to live with the other spouse. It must be more serious than "ordinary wear and tear of married life." 3. In determining cruelty, the court considers factors such as the parties' social status, education, physical and mental conditions, customs, and traditions. There is no precise definition or exhaustive description of circumstances constituting cruelty. 4. The court's discretion in granting divorce on the ground of cruelty is guided by the principle that the relationship must have deteriorated to such an extent that it would be impossible for the spouses to live together without mental agony, torture, or distress. 5. Desertion, as a ground for divorce, requires proof that one spouse voluntarily abandoned the other without a reasonable cause and with the intention of permanently ending the marital relationship.
Fact of the Case:
The husband filed a petition for divorce on the grounds of mental cruelty and desertion. The trial court granted the divorce, finding that the wife's behavior, including frequent quarreling, abuse, and refusal to cook for the husband and child, amounted to mental cruelty. The court also found that the wife had deserted the husband by leaving the marital home in 2003 without any intention of returning.
Finding of the Court:
The High Court allowed the wife's appeal, setting aside the trial court's decree of divorce. The court found that the evidence of mental cruelty was insufficient to establish that the wife's conduct had caused the husband such severe mental agony and suffering that it would be impossible for them to live together. The court also found that the evidence of desertion was not reliable, as the child's testimony was not credible and the other witnesses' testimony was not corroborated.
Issues: 1. Whether the wife's behavior constituted mental cruelty sufficient to grant a divorce? 2. Whether the wife's departure from the marital home amounted to desertion?
Ratio Decidendi: 1. The court held that the wife's behavior, while not ideal, did not rise to the level of mental cruelty required for a divorce. The court noted that the wife's shortcomings were common among many women in society and that granting divorce on such grounds would lead to the breakdown of society. 2. The court also held that the evidence of desertion was not sufficient to support the trial court's finding. The court found that the child's testimony was not credible and that the other witnesses' testimony was not corroborated.
Final Decision: The High Court allowed the wife's appeal, setting aside the trial court's decree of divorce and dismissing the husband's petition.
ASIDM KUMAR BANERJEE, J. :- I have read the well versed judgment written by my esteemed brother, I am in full agreement with the conclusion My Lord has arrived at. To supplement, I however wish to add few lines in this regard.
2. His Lordship referred to the conciliation proceeding we had in our Chamber. We intentionally held the conciliation proceeding in presence of the minor child who was accompanying his father. From the demean our of the child I cannot resist my temptation to observe that My Lord is correct to the extent that the child was under the influence of his father. The child was about 6-7 years when he was separated from his mother, according to the respondent. He deposed before the learned District Judge when he was 1 I years. Now, he is 12 years. The factum of influence, in my view, is not unnatural because of his tender age and long dissociation with his mother.
3. As has been observed by My Lord, the learned District Judge placed heavy reliance on the evidence of the minor child while coming to the conclusion that the appellant was responsible for mental cruelty being inflicted on her husband. My Lord has analyzed the evidence in detail need not repeat the same. My endeavour is to find out whether the evidence available on record could support the allegation of mental cruelty.
4. According to American Jurisprudence term "mental cruelty" means a course of unprovoked conduct towards one's spouse which causes embarrassment, humiliation and anguish so as to render the spouse's life miserable and unendurable.
5. The Apex Court in the case of A. Jayachandra v. Aneel Kaur, reported in (2005) 2 SCC 22 : (AIR 2005 SC 534) observed, "To constitute cruelty, the conduct complained of should be "grave and weighty" so as to come to the conclusion that the petitioner spouse cannot be reasonably expected to live with the other spouse. It must be something more serious than "ordinary wear and tear of married life". The conduct taking into consideration the circumstances and background has to be examined to reach the conclusion whether the conduct complained amounts to cruelty in the matrimonial law. Conduct has to be considered, as noted above, in the background of several factors such as social status of parties, their education, physical and mental conditions, customs and traditions, it is difficult to lay down a precise definition or to give exhaustive description of the circumstances, which would constitute cruelty. It must be of the type as to satisfy the conscience of the Court that the relationship between the parties had deteriorated to such an extent due to the conduct of the other spouse that it would be impossible for them to live together without mental agony, torture or distress, to entitle the complaining spouse to secure divorce."
6. In this backdrop, ram of the view that there cannot be any straightjacket formula wherein available evidence could be put to test to have the result whether it would amount to mental cruelty entitling the complaining spouse to get decree of divorce.
7. In the case in hand, we find that according to the husband and the child the lady was ill-tempered, in the habit of quarrelling with landlords, abusing husband and the son by calling them "dhobi" and "dhobi ka aulad" respectively, cooking food for herself only, insisting the husband to live separately leaving his parents. If we consider these evidences on their face value we would find that the lady was selfish in nature, wanted to have a nuclear family. She was also ill-tempered. Do we not find several women in our society having all these shortcomings? If we grant divorce to their respective husbands our society would break down immediately. Marital bond, in my view, is not a glass pane or a fragile object which could be broken considering the wear and tear of the marital life. It is such that a man and a woman after considering each and every aspect of life and after being satisfied that they would be in a position to live joint
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