Recently, the Madhya Pradesh High Court dissolved a two-decade-old marriage, holding that a wife’s act of self-immolation followed by unfounded allegations against her husband’s relatives amounted to cruelty under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
The case arose from a marriage solemnised in April 2003. The couple had a daughter but began living separately in 2005 after a series of disputes. The husband alleged that the wife ill-treated him, threatened him, and eventually poured kerosene on herself in an attempt to end her life, which left her with serious burn injuries.
The wife, on the other hand, claimed that her in-laws had set her on fire. However, the Court noted that “she not only failed in examining the neighbors as witnesses to the incident, but she also did not get any FIR lodged against the said relatives regarding this serious criminal act.” Her explanation that she refrained from lodging a complaint on the advice of respected community members was found unconvincing.
The Division Bench of Justice Vishal Dhagat and Justice Anuradha Shukla observed, “In the overall perspective we find that respondent/wife suffered a painful incident sustaining burn injuries for which she holds the relatives of appellant/husband responsible, but she has not produced any reliable evidence on this point and had also failed to initiate any criminal proceedings against the wrong doers… On the other hand, appellant/husband has been consistent through facts and evidence to establish that the incident of burning was the result of self immolation and we do not have any reason to disbelieve this testimony and taking such a drastic step by a spouse is sufficient in itself to cause dread and fear in other spouse to avoid any bonding in matrimonial relationship.”
The Bench stressed that such an extreme act went beyond the “ordinary wear and tear” of marriage and squarely fell within the definition of mental cruelty under Section 13(1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act.
Accordingly, setting aside the trial court’s order, the Bench concluded that the wife’s self-immolation attempt itself was enough to establish cruelty, declaring, “Marriage solemnized between the parties on 29.04.2003 is declared to be dissolved under the provision of Section 13(1)(ia) of Hindu Marriage Act.”
Case Title: A vs. B
Case No: First Appeal No. 133 of 2007
Coram: Justice Vishal Dhagat, Justice Anuradha Shukla
Advocate for Appellant: Adv. Eshaan Dat
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