E-Paper
Court grants divorce to man after wife fails to rebut ‘mental cruelty’ accusation
A Pune district court on September 10 granted a divorce to a 29-year-old man after holding that he proved his wife subjected him to mental cruelty during their marriage
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A Pune district court on September 10 granted a divorce to a 29-year-old man after holding that he proved his wife subjected him to mental cruelty during their marriage.
District Judge K V Parit allowed the petition under Section 10(X) of the Indian Divorce Act, 1869, noting that the husband’s evidence regarding the alleged cruelty remained unchallenged because neither the wife nor her advocate cross-examined him or his supporting witness.
The Christian couple had a church wedding on January 22, 2021. They have no children.
The husband alleged that his wife subjected him to mental cruelty soon after their marriage. He claimed she avoided interacting with his family members, seemed unhappy when they were together, and frequently spent time texting a number.
According to him, she received a message from that number saying, “Miss you a lot” during a movie date. The court recorded that the incident caused the husband “mental and physical pain and agony”.
The husband also alleged that his wife avoided household work and picked fights with his mother, whom she falsely accused of stealing her earrings. He also said she sought money from him to recharge her sister’s mobile phone and television, and to send her frequent gifts He further alleged that she pressured him to live separately from his family and denied him physical intimacy.
He produced photographs, bills, payment screenshots, a legal notice, postal records, a letter from the Mahila Madat and Mahiti Kendra, a certificate under Section 65-B of the Indian Evidence Act and a pen drive as evidence.
The wife denied the allegations, claiming the husband treated her like a maid or helper, assaulted her, and then threw her out of the house. She also said she had lodged a complaint at Bhosari police station alleging cruelty, harassment and torture.
The court noted that neither the wife nor her advocate cross-examined the husband or his witness and that no witness was examined on her behalf. It said that the wife had not produced sufficient evidence to disprove or rebut the material allegations and that the unchallenged evidence left the court with no reason to reject the husband’s allegations.
“Nothing has come on record to show that the cruelty has not been committed by the respondent. Mere denial in the statement cannot by itself rebut the positive and unchallenged evidence adduced by the petitioner,” the court observed.
Saying that the allegations were sufficient to infer that the respondent treated the petitioner with mental cruelty, the court dissolved the marriage under the provisions of Section 10(X) of the Indian Divorce Act, 1869.
