The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday made a historic decision in favor of husbands by approving a divorce of a military officer from his wife stating that defamatory complaint against the spouse and hurting his honor is akin to mental cruelty. 

The bench headed by Justice S. K. Kaul said that the Uttarakhand High Court misjudged its decision by terming the broken relationship as normal wear and tear of middle-class married life. Whereas, this is certainly a case of cruelty against the appellant by the defendant. The appellant is entitled to terminate his marriage.

On the said decision Supreme Court also highlighted certain points:

  • No one has the right to damage other’s honor
  • It is difficult to forgive this kind of behavior 

Both Husband and wife have been living separately for 14 years

The couple got married in 2006 and lived together for a few months. But in a few days of marriage, differences started to arise between them. Due to such differences they parted their ways and have been living apart since 2007.

SC – This behaviour cannot be accepted

On this matter, the Supreme Court said, “It is difficult to expect from the affected party to forgive such conduct when the honor of the spouse is severely harmed among his colleagues, his superiors, and in the society.” 

After hearing both sides, the court was of the opinion that the husband has suffered ill effects in life and his career due to the allegations levied by the wife. In this case, an educated spouse has accused her partner. Reputation in superiors and society has deteriorated and the wife’s conduct cannot be expected to be forgiven. The wife is not justified in saying that she made all these complaints to save her married life.

The bench who made this decision includes Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Hrishikesh Roy.