The Supreme Court has held that persevering with in a marriage which has broken down irretrievably amounts to cruelty, which is a ground for divorce underneath the Hindu Marriage Act.
A Bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and J.B. Pardiwala learn the ‘irretrievable breakdown of marriage’ into the ground of ‘cruelty’ for divorce underneath the Act.
“A marriage which has broken down irretrievably, in our opinion, spells cruelty to both the parties, as in such a relationship each party is treating the other with cruelty. It is therefore a ground for dissolution of marriage under Section 13 (1) (ia) of the Act,” Justice Dhulia noticed in a current judgment.
The courtroom outlined an “irretrievable marriage is a marriage” as a state of affairs in which the husband and spouse have been residing individually for a appreciable interval and there was “absolutely no chance of their living together again”.
Irretrievable breakdown of marriage by itself isn’t a ground for divorce underneath the Act, and therefore, the courtroom has interpreted cruelty to embrace a broken marriage whereas considering the plight of a couple compelled to reside a loveless relationship.
Cruelty is set by inspecting all the matrimonial relationship. “Cruelty may not be in a violent act or acts but in a given case has to be gathered from injurious reproaches, complaints, accusations, taunts, etc,” the courtroom noticed.
The judgment got here in the case of a Delhi-based couple who’ve been residing individually for 25 years whereas burdening one another with a number of litigations. The courtroom mentioned the couple had not witnessed a second of peace for the final 25 years. Dissolving the marriage, the courtroom mentioned theirs was a conjugal relationship solely on paper.