Jahanvi Agarwal
The Chhattisgarh High Court recently ruled that a wife expressing concerns about her husband frequently arriving home late at night and possibly having an affair cannot be considered cruelty.
In a judgment on October 16, a division bench consisting of Justices Goutam Bhaduri and Deepak Kumar Tiwari stated that such behavior by the wife, given the circumstances, is considered normal human conduct.
The case before the court involved a husband who often returned home late at night and, at times, did not return at all. He explained that his late arrivals were due to his involvement in political activities and argued that his wife’s doubts about his character amounted to cruelty. A family court had previously granted the husband a divorce based on these grounds, a decision that the wife appealed to the High Court.
The High Court reasoned that the wife would not have doubted her husband’s behavior if he had acted differently or provided a proper explanation. The bench acknowledged that while the husband’s actions had raised doubts, it did not mean that the allegations against him were entirely unfounded. The doubts, in this case, were a result of the husband’s unexplained behavior.
The court also noted that the husband had his doubts about his wife, claiming that she had been communicating with her brother’s friends. It emphasized the importance of trust in a marital relationship, stating that both spouses should maintain a minimal level of belief in each other. It further emphasized that the wife should not be expected to interact with others solely based on the husband’s preferences unless there is concrete evidence to question her character.
With these insights, the High Court overturned the family court’s 2017 decision to grant the husband a divorce.
Case Name: Rainpreet Kaur v. Kulbir Chhabra
Diary Number: 219/2017
Bench: Justices Goutam Bhaduri and Deepak Kumar Tiwari