The Honble Apex Court in, JOYDEEP MAJUMDAR v. BHARTI JAISWAL MAJUMDAR stated that owing to the varied level of tolerance of couples the courts while looking into the question of mental cruelty must take into account the background, level of education, and status of parties.
Facts
Husband(appellant) and wife(respondent) married each other and subsequently, differences arose and they started living apart. In a divorce proceeding by the appellant, it was stated by the appellant that he was subjected to mental cruelty, and on the other hand respondent filed for restitution of conjugal rights. The family court upheld the plea for divorce and rejected the plea for restitution of conjugal rights. This decision was reversed by the HC in Uttrakhand.
Decision of HC
The court observed that although it was found that the wife did write to various authorities commenting on the appellant’s character and conduct(this was contended by the appellant to be amounting to mental cruelty), the HC stated that those cannot be construed as cruelty since no court concluded that those allegations were false or fabricated.
Observation of SC
The aforementioned decision was challenged in SC. The court stated that whenever the question pertaining to mental cruelty arises the instance should be such that it would disable the aggrieved party to live with the faulty party. The court after stating this further opined, “The degree of tolerance will vary from one couple to another and the Court will have to bear in mind the background, the level of education and also the status of the parties, in order to determine whether the cruelty alleged is sufficient to justify the dissolution of marriage, at the instance of the wronged party.” The court while observing the material on record stated that comments were in fact defamatory in nature. The fact that no court called it defamatory does not make the aggrieved party disentitled to relief. The SC thus reversed the decision of the HC and the plea for restitution of conjugal rights was rejected.
Case Details
CIVIL APPEAL NOS. 3786-3787 OF 2020
Coram- J.SANJAY KISHAN KAUL, J. DINESH MAHESHWARI, and J. HRISHIKESH ROY
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