The Delhi High Court in its order dated March 21, 2024 has granted divorce to a husband on grounds of cruelty by wife Section 13(1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act.
The Division Bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Neena Bansal Krishna concluded that a wife openly humiliating her husband as impotent and discussing their sexual life in front of family members amounts to ‘mental cruelty’ towards the husband.
Case:
Parties got married in July 2011 according to Hindu rites and rituals. The couple does not have any children.
The wife had undergone IVF treatment twice, however, when the same failed, she constantly humiliated her husband publicly calling him impotent. In 2013, when the matter became worse, along with false police complaints by wife, the husband filed for divorce on grounds of cruelty by wife.
My Wife Made Her Mother Sleep In Between Us, Called Me Rapist Whenever I Touched Her | Later Filed Divorce Calling Me Impotent
Trial Court, Delhi
In July 2021, a trial court dismissed the husband’s petition calling his allegations as ‘vague and unspecified’. Aggrieved by this Family Court judgment, the husband approached the Delhi High Court.
Allegations by Husband
The husband informed court that from the beginning he was a loving and caring person towards his wife. But soon he realised that the wife had temper issues and also used a foul tongue. Some of his allegations were as follows:
Many times, when I would return from office, she would ask me to serve her food and then throw the food at my face claiming that it was not prepared well. Once my wife was reading a newspaper article where a man had been run over by a train. She then questioned as to why such an incident did not happen with me (i.e. the husband).
The husband then claimed that when they wanted to begin a family, the wife was unable to conceive despite undertaking IVF procedures twice. This is when differences started cropping up between the two and the wife openly started discussing their private sexual life with her parents. According to the husband, eventhough he was perfectly normal to establish physical relations, his wife publicly labelled him as impotent.
The husband also put on record that while multiple hospitals had confirmed medical complications with the wife, due to which she was unable to conceive, he never said anything to her. Despite this, the wife continued to blame him for the failure of her IVF treatments.
The husband also took a separate residence away from his parents since the wife kept giving him false suicide threats. But when she failed to join his company and filed false police complaint in 2013, the husband filed for divorce.
Husband Dies By Suicide As Wife Performed Sexual Acts With Lover In Front Of Him Calling Him Impotent
Arguments by Wife
The wife in her arguments rejected all allegations made by the husband. She informed the court that her husband and his family had made it a business to marry innocent girls, demand dowry from them and then divorce them. Calling herself as a cultured woman, she insisted on continuing the marriage until death.
In her defense, the wife alleged that it was her in-laws who constantly taunted her as a ‘banjh’ (a woman who is unable to give birth). The wife then suggested that due to all these attrotricities caused on her, she had filed police complaint against her husband and in-laws. The respondent wife even said that she had tried multiple times to reconcile, but the husband did not appear for mediation except on one date. Thus, she urged the court to dismiss his divorce petition.
Man Maintains Social Distancing; Wife Files For Divorce Falsely Accusing Him Of Being Impotent
Delhi High Court
At the outset, the Division Bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Neena Bansal Krishna observed that the marriage had lasted only for two years between 2011 and 2013.
With regards to wife’s foul language and temper, the High Court noted that the Family Court had rightly concluded these allegations of the husband to be vague and in general.
Moving onto the allegations of impotency, the Delhi High Court questioned why such discussions started immediately within three months of the marriage.
The High Court then noted that when the parties visited the hospital, it was established that appellant was having a condition called ‘Azoospermia’, due to which she was unable to conceive. The Court thus opined that the public humiliation suffered by the appellant-husband by the knowing/unknowing acts of respondent in terming him impotent, while it was a medical condition of sterility, could not be overlooked as rather than respecting appellant’s privacy and being a little more discrete. The Court added that public disclosures by respondent, even if to the family members, were a source of humiliation.
Pune Techie Lodges Complaint Against Wife, Lover For Plotting Plan To Turn Him Impotent & Divorce
The Court relied on N.G. Dastane v. S. Dastane, (1975) 2 SCC 326 and concluded:
To be openly humiliated and being called as impotent by his wife, in front of others and for respondent to discuss their sexual life in the presence of family members, could only be termed as an act of humiliation causing mental cruelty to appellant.
The Court further relied on Ravi Kumar v. Julmidevi (2010), wherein the Supreme Court had held:
Wreckless, false and defamatory allegations against husband and family members would have an effect of lowering their reputation in the eyes of the society and thus it amounted to cruelty.
How Can Cruelty Be Established?
The Court observed that the wife detached herself from husband, on account of his incapacity and decided to leave him and snapped their matrimonial relationship. Such withdrawal of respondent from the matrimonial relationship unilaterally without any reason or basis thereby depriving appellant of conjugal bliss, since October 2013 till date, could only be inferred as an act of cruelty.
Concluding that the husband was treated with cruelty, the Delhi High Court reversed the Family Court order, thereby granting divorce to the husband on the ground of cruelty under Section 13(1)(ia) of HMA.
READ JUDGMENT | Can Husband Live With Another Woman During Pendency Of Divorce Proceedings? Delhi High Court Responds
Voice For Men India Take:
- This is the verdict from Delhi High Court after 11-years of filing for divorce, and the wife still stands a chance to appeal this order in the Supreme Court of India
- Marriage between parties lasted only for two years, while the couple has been living separately since over ten years now
- The man in this case has already lost out on his prime years of life where he could have remarried and started a family
- While the wife continues to enjoy holding back the husband legally, any outcome in the man’s favour now, for all practical purposes, may not be relevant
- Its time the Government of India gives a serious thought for allowing exit in contested divorce, where one of the party chooses to be on a lifelong ego trip
DO WATCH:
Should Men File For Divorce First | Voice For Men India | Swarup Sarkar | Save India Family (SIF)
LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW:
READ ORDER | Calling Husband Impotent, Discussing Sexual Life In Front Of Family Members Is Mental Cruelty: Delhi HC
— Voice For Men India (@voiceformenind) April 1, 2024
▪️2011: Parties got married
▪️2013: Wife leaves matrimonial home, Husband files for divorce
▪️2024: HC grants divorce#VoiceForMenhttps://t.co/M0msnqwQ69
Join our Facebook Group or follow us on social media by clicking on the icons below
If you find value in our work, you may choose to donate to Voice For Men Foundation via Milaap OR via UPI: voiceformenindia@hdfcbank (80G tax exemption applicable)
Follow Us
