Authour : Advocate K.P.Satish
Kumar M.L. Madras High Court.
Leading Divorce Lawyer in Chennai.
After the solemnization
of the marriage when any of the spouse either the husband or the wife is treated
with cruelty, they are eligible for divorce. Section 13 (i) (a) of the Hindu
marriage has not defined the term cruelty. But the courts has interpreted that
cruelty falls under Physical and mental cruelty. And the cruelty may be
intentional or unintentional.
If it is physical, the court
will have no problem to determine it . It is a question of fact and degree . If
it is mental, the problem presents difficulty.
The Supreme court at various
circumstances has summed up the situations which are fall under mental cruelty.
The expression 'cruelty' has
an inseparable nexus with human conduct or human behaviour . It is always
dependent upon the social strata or the milieu to which the parties belong,
their ways of life, relationship, temperaments and emotions that have been
conditioned by their social status.
The conception of legal
cruelty undergoes changes according to the changes and advancement of social
concept and standards of living. To establish legal cruelty, it is not
necessary that physical violence should be used.
A set of facts stigmatized as
cruelty in one case may not be so in another case. The cruelty alleged may largely depend upon
the type of life the parties are accustomed to or their economic and social
conditions.
Each case may be different.
New type of cruelty may crop up in any case depending upon the human behaviour,
capacity or incapability to tolerate the conduct complained of.
Mental Cruelty in Section
13(1)(ia) of Hindu Marriage Act can broadly be defined as that conduct which
inflicts upon the other party such mental pain and suffering as would make it
not possible for that party to live with the other.
What
is cruelty in one case may not amount to cruelty in the other case :- How to
fix Mental cruelty.
1.The concept of cruelty
differs from person to person depending upon his upbringing, level of
sensitivity, educational, family and cultural background, financial position,
social status, customs, traditions, religious belief, human values and their
value system.
2.Mental cruelty cannot be
established by direct evidence and it is necessarily a matter of inference to
be drawn from the facts and circumstances of the case.
3.Question of mental cruelty
has to be considered in the light of the norms of marital ties of the
particular society to which the parties belong, their social values, status and
environment in which they live.
Guidelines for Mental cruelty
:
1.Mental cruelty may consist of verbal abuses and insults by using filthy
and abusive language leading to constant disturbance of mental peace of the
other party. It may be words, gestures
or by mere silence, violent or non-violent
2. Cruelty should be wilful unjustifiable conduct of such character as to
cause danger to life, limb or health, bodily or mental, or as to give rise to a
reasonable apprehension of such danger.
3. Proof
beyond doubt, as in criminal trials is not required to prove cruelty.
4.In
physical cruelty, there can be tangible and direct evidence, but in the case of
mental cruelty there may not at the same time be direct evidence - For proof of
mental cruelty Court has to find out nature of cruel treatment, impact of such
treatment in the mind of the spouse, whether it caused reasonable apprehension
that it would be harmful or injurious to live with the other.
5.There may
be a case where the conduct complained of itself is bad enough and per se
unlawful or illegal - Then the impact or injurious effect on the other spouse
need not be enquired into or considered.
6.Whether
the conduct of a spouse amounted to cruelty has to be considered in the
background of several factors such as social status of parties, their
education, physical and mental conditions, customs and traditions.
7.Mere
trivial irritations, quarrels between spouses, which happen in day- to-day
married life, may also not amount to cruelty.
8.The Courts do not have to deal with ideal husbands and ideal wives. It has to
deal with particular man and woman before it. The ideal couple or a mere ideal
one will probably have no occasion to go to Matrimonial Court.
Circumstances to Mental cruelty :-
1.
Wife
publishing a notice in newspaper that her husband was womaniser, drunkard and a
man of bad habits. It was mala fide and
the motive was to demolish the reputation of the husband in the society. It
created a dent in his reputation which is not only the salt of life, but also
the purest treasure and the most precious perfume of life.
2.
Husband
getting ready to go to factory, the wife sometimes used to crumple the ironed
clothes.
3.
The
wife who hides the keys of the motorcycle when the husband goes to job.
4.
The
wife closes the main gate when the
husband goes to job.
5.
Wife launched prosecution under Section 498-A
against husband and other relatives while ended in acquittal.
6.
Wife made
baseless allegation in written statement that her husband had extra marital
relations with another woman.
7.
Husband
and wife both professional doctors. Wife advised her husband not to ask certain
female staff members to come and work on off-duty hours when nobody else was
available in the hospital. Not to work behind the closed doors with certain members
of the staff. There were clear manifestations of her suspecting the husband's
fidelity, character and reputation. Constant nagging on those aspects,
certainly amounted to causing indelible mental agony and amounts to cruelty.
By Team
Daniel & Daniel
Attorneys &
Solicitors
Head Office @ New No.99, 3rd Floor, Armenian Street, Chennai-600001, Tamilnadu, India.
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