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Bhagat Vs. Mrs. D. Bhagat
AIR1994SC710, (1994)1SCC337
Hon’ble Judges/Coram : B.P. Jeevan Reddy, JJ. and Kuldip Singh
Decided On: 19.11.1993
FACTS:-
The petitioner Shri V. Bhagat and the respondent Mrs D. Bhagat got married in 1966 and had a son and a daughter. After a few years to their marriage, dispute and problems starts arising between them. Therefore, a petition was filed for the divorce on the ground of Mental Cruelty.
ISSUE:-
Whether the allegation in the pleadings by the respondent constitutes mental cruelty or not?
JUDGMENT:-
The “cruelty” contemplated by Section 13(1)(a) is both physical and mental and it is not possible to define ‘mental cruelty’ exhaustively. By the Hindu Marriage Law (Amendment) Act, 1976 cruelty was made a ground for divorce. The requirement of a reasonable apprehension of injury or actual injury to the life, limb or health of the aggrieved spouse to prove cruelty was removed. Mental cruelty is that conduct which inflicts upon the other party such mental pain and suffering as would make it not possible for one party to live with the other. Mental cruelty must be of such a nature that the parties cannot reasonably be expected to live together. Cruelty is a matter to be determined in each case with regard to the facts and circumstances of that case. Regard must also be had to the context in which allegations and accusations were made.
The Court observed that the relationship had become one filled with intense hatred and rancour and that any reconciliation was out of the question. The averments made by the respondent must be read in the context in which they were made. Rapprochement was not in the realm of possibility. Both parties levelled serious allegations against one another, with the wife calling the husband a lunatic and the husband calling the wife an adulteress.
These allegations were made in a formal pleading filed in the Court and the questions to that effect were put by her counsel at her instructions in the cross-examination. These allegations were bound to cause the petitioner intense mental pain and anguish besides affecting his career and professional prospects. Her allegations went beyond the reasonable limits of her defence. These assertions on part of the respondent constitute mental cruelty and in context of the relevant circumstances, the petitioner cannot be asked to live with the respondent thereafter. The marriage between the parties has broken down and there is no chance of their coming together, or living together again.
HELD:-
Cruelty is a matter to be determined in each case with regard to the facts and circumstances of that case and court allowed the Divorce between the parties on the ground of mental cruelty. Click here to know more how to treat addiction on alcohol.
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