JUDGMENT

(Judgment of the Court was made by L.VICTORIA GOWRI, J.)

1.This Civil Miscellaneous Appeal filed under Section 19 of the Family Courts Act, 1984, to set aside the judgment and decree dated 04.01.2021 in H.M.O.P. No.211 of 2017 on the file of the learned Family Court, Tirunelveli, whereby the marriage between the appellant and the respondent solemnised on 08.09.2013 was dissolved under Section 13(1)(i-a) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

Prologue:

2. Matrimonial litigation often unfolds as a mosaic of grievances and counter-grievances, with each spouse projecting themselves as the aggrieved and the other as the wrongdoer. The Court, in such disputes, is not required to adjudicate every domestic disagreement or emotional hurt as if it were a tort, but to determine whether the statutory ground pleaded in this case, “cruelty” under Section 13(1)(i-a) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, has been made out on the touchstone of preponderance of probabilities.

3. The concept of “irretrievable breakdown of marriage” has been recognised by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in exercise of its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India. However, it is not, by itself, a statutor