Repeated suicide threats by spouse amount to cruelty: Bombay High Court

The court observed that repeated suicide threats— verbal or through conduct—make it impossible for the other spouse to maintain a peaceful marital relationship

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has held that a spouse’s repeated threats to die by suicide constitute cruelty, while granting divorce to a man whose wife allegedly attempted suicide and repeatedly threatened him during disputes.

Bombay High Court

According to the petition filed by the husband, the couple got married in May 2006 and had a son the following year. The relationship began to deteriorate in 2008, and they eventually started living separately in 2012.

From 2013 onward, the estranged couple initiated several litigations against each other, including cases related to divorce, restitution of conjugal rights, maintenance, and domestic violence. A marriage counsellor recorded in 2015 that reconciliation between the two was not possible.

In May 2019, a family court dismissed the husband’s divorce plea—filed on grounds of cruelty, desertion, suspicion and the wife’s alleged suicide attempt—holding that he had failed to prove ‘cruelty,’ prompting him to move the high court.

During the proceedings, the wife sought payment of alleged arrears in maintenance and accused her husband of remarriage. While he denied the allegation, a police report confirmed that he was living with another woman and their daughter.

A division bench of chief justice Shree Chandrashekhar and justice Gautam Ankhad noted that the trial court had failed to appreciate the evidence properly. Citing Supreme Court rulings, the bench observed that repeated suicide threats—whether verbal or through conduct—make it impossible for the other spouse to maintain a peaceful marital relationship, thereby amounting to cruelty. The court also clarified that the absence of a police complaint cannot automatically be held against the aggrieved party, as spouses often avoid complaints to prevent further discord.

Holding that it was no longer possible for the couple to live together and that continuing the marriage would only “perpetuate cruelty,” the bench granted the divorce on November 14. As part of the full and final settlement, the court directed the man to transfer two flats, 80 grams of gold and ₹25 lakh to his wife.