1 week ago
Calcutta High Court Upholds Divorce, Rejects Condonation Claim
The Calcutta High Court decided that a divorce granted to a husband should continue.
The couple had lived together for about five years.
They then stayed apart for 11 years.
Sometimes they lived together again during that separation.
The court said those short periods did not erase or forgive the cruelty it found.
The court also said the wife’s claims about dowry demands and a forced abortion were not properly supported.
Mediation did not help the couple settle their dispute.
The judges concluded that the marriage had broken down and that divorce was justified.
The Calcutta High Court upheld a December 2021 family court divorce decree favouring the husband.
The court ruled that occasional periods of living together after separation did not condone the alleged cruelty.
The couple lived together for about five years before separating for 11 years, and court-referred mediation failed.
The wife’s allegations of dowry demands and forcible abortion were found unspecified, unproved, or unsupported by pleadings.
The bench held that the marriage had broken down irretrievably and that the wife’s conduct amounted to mental cruelty.
- Who
- A husband and wife, with the wife appealing a divorce decree granted to the husband.
- What
- The Calcutta High Court upheld the divorce and ruled that stray incidents of living together did not amount to condonation of cruelty.
- Where
- The Calcutta High Court in Kolkata.
- When
- The family court granted the divorce in December 2021; the high court ruling was reported from Kolkata on August 24.
- Why
- The court found mental cruelty by the wife and held that the marriage had broken down irretrievably; it also found her other allegations insufficiently supported.
Court and Husband’s Position
Wife’s Appeal and Allegations
Effect of living together after separation
Court and Husband’s Position
The court held that stray incidents of living together as husband and wife did not amount to condonation of cruelty.
Wife’s Appeal and Allegations
The wife relied on the husband’s admission that they had lived together as spouses on certain occasions after separation, challenging the divorce on that basis.
Grounds for divorce
Court and Husband’s Position
The court concluded that the wife was guilty of mental cruelty and that the marriage had broken down irretrievably.
Wife’s Appeal and Allegations
The wife appealed against the family court’s divorce decree in favour of the husband.
Dowry and abortion allegations
Court and Husband’s Position
The court said the dowry allegations lacked specifics and that the forcible-abortion allegation was unproved or unsupported by the pleadings.
Wife’s Appeal and Allegations
The wife alleged dowry demands by the husband and his family and alleged that the husband forced an abortion.
Key facts
- Court
- Calcutta High Court
- Judges
- Justices Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Supratim Bhattacharya
- Original decree
- Granted by a family court in December 2021
- Period living together
- About five years
- Period separated
- About 11 years
- Mediation
- Court-referred mediation failed
- Key ruling
- Occasional living together during separation did not amount to condonation of cruelty
Quotes
Calcutta High Court division bench
Division bench comprising Justices Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Supratim Bhattacharya
“We come to the conclusion that the appellant-wife is guilty of mental cruelty to the respondent-husband, thus furnishing a valid ground for divorce.”
theprint.in
“However, such liberal approach cannot be taken to such an extreme that it itself becomes a conservative dogma.”
theprint.in
Sources
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