Delhi High Court Rules: Wife's Pregnancy Cannot Negate Prior Acts of Marital Cruelty in Divorce Case

The marriage, which began in March 2016, ended with the husband filing for divorce in 2021 due to alleged cruelty.

New Delhi:

The Delhi High Court has ruled that pregnancy or temporary reconciliation cannot erase previous acts of cruelty and abusive behavior by a wife toward her husband, resulting in the granting of a divorce decree to the man in question.

According to the court, cruelty must be evaluated based on the complete circumstances of the relationship, rather than focusing on isolated instances of reconciliation.

Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Renu Bhatnagar delivered this judgment while overturning a family court's earlier decision that had rejected the husband's petition for marriage dissolution on grounds of cruelty.

"The family court incorrectly relied on the wife's miscarriage in early 2019 to suggest harmonious relations between the parties. Such an inference is not legally sustainable," stated the bench in its November 20 judgment.

"Neither pregnancy nor temporary reconciliation can erase previous acts of cruelty, especially when evidence shows that the wife's abusive conduct, threats, and refusal to cohabitate continued thereafter," the court added.

The couple's marriage took place in March 2016, but marital discord led the husband to file for divorce in 2021, claiming he had suffered cruelty.

The wife countered with allegations that she had experienced dowry-related harassment from her husband and in-laws, resulting in her expulsion from the matrimonial home.

Initially, the family court denied the divorce petition, ruling that the husband failed to prove cruelty and did not adequately refute the dowry harassment claims. The court also cited the wife's 2019 miscarriage as evidence of a harmonious relationship.

However, the High Court allowed the husband's appeal against this decision, determining that the marriage had irretrievably broken down and that the husband had successfully established grounds of cruelty under the Hindu Marriage Act.

The court found that the wife's repeated humiliation and insults directed at both the husband and his mother, consistent threats of self-harm, refusal to live together, and desertion without reasonable cause all constituted mental cruelty.

"Before concluding, this court considers it appropriate to observe that matrimonial litigation often causes deep emotional wounds. Divorce is not a victory of one party over another, but rather a legal acknowledgment that the relationship has reached a point of no return."

"Both parties are encouraged to maintain civility in all future interactions, particularly regarding any pending or future proceedings related to maintenance or other ancillary matters," the bench concluded.