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Terming husband ‘hijra’ is cruelty, rules Punjab and Haryana high court
In his divorce plea, man alleged that the woman was addicted to porn and mobile games. Besides, she had been allegedly asking him to record the duration of sexual intercourse.
Calling a husband eunuch is an act of mental cruelty, the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has held while granting divorce to a Haryana man. The division bench of justice Sudhir Singh and justice Jasjit Singh Bedi was hearing a woman’s appeal against the divorce granted in favour of her estranged husband by a family court in July this year.
“...terming the respondent-husband as ‘hijra’ and telling his mother that she has given birth to such a man amount to mental cruelty,” the bench said while upholding the family court order.
The marriage had taken place in 2017 and the wife remained briefly with her in-laws’ family. The divorce proceedings were initiated by the husband. In the divorce plea, it was alleged that the woman was addicted to porn and mobile games. She would allegedly ask the husband to record the duration of sexual intercourse. The man said the woman used to say that the intercourse should go on for at least 15 minutes and three times a night. She used to taunt him for not “being physically fit to compete with her” and had disclosed that she wanted to marry someone else, the plea mentioned.
On the other hand, the woman had denied the allegations and claimed that the husband failed to produce any evidence about her alleged addiction to porn. It was submitted that she was evicted from her matrimonial home by her husband. She also accused her in-laws of administering intoxicated medicines. “During her unconscious state, they put a tabiz (amulet) from a tantrik (occultist) on her neck besides administering her intoxicated water so that they could have control over her,” she said in her response.
The court noted that the two parties had lived separately for six years and upheld the family court’s observation that the marriage had ruptured beyond repair and “it has become a dead wood”. The court found that the testimony of husband’s mother could not be impeached by the wife. While allegations were made in the plea by the husband, his mother deposed that wife used to call her son a ‘hijra’.
“It is well settled that in order to constitute a cruelty, the party alleging the same must prove on record that the behavior of the party complained against is or has been as such that it has made it impossible for the said party to live in the company of the party complained against. The acts of cruelty must be such from which it can be reasonably and logically concluded that there cannot be any re-union between the parties due to the said acts. The cruelty can either be physical or mental or both. Though there is no mathematical formula to devise the extent of cruelty alleged against, yet facts of each and every case must be examined in the light of gravity contained in them,” the high court said while deciding in favour of the husband.
It also took note of the facts that allegations of administering intoxicants to wife and placing her under the influence of tantrik could not be substantiated as in respect of alleged cruelty she did not examine her parents or any other relative. It also found that her complaint of domestic violence against the husband was dismissed by the concerned court.
