The Bombay High Court’s Nagpur bench has ruled that mere annoyance and the typical “wear and tear” of married life do not constitute sufficient grounds for divorce. This decision came as the court rejected a husband’s request to dissolve his marriage, which took place in 2003. The court also upheld an order granting his wife a monthly maintenance payment of ₹5,000.
Wakode dismissed the family court’s appeal of 2016 for divorce filed by a 44-year-old Kamptee man against his wife. The family court had recorded that the husband, an ordnance factory employee, was earning ₹23,808 a month.
Marital life should be assessed as a whole and few isolated instances over a certain period will not amount to cruelty,” the court said. The court relied on Supreme Court precedents, including Samar Ghosh versus Jaya Ghosh, and said matrimonial life must be assessed in totality. “The wife had previously worked as a nurse and quit her job after marriage and had no independent source of income,” they said.
A division bench comprising Justices Urmila Joshi-Phalke and Raj. “Mere annoyance or irritation may not constitute cruelty, rather it is a spontaneous change in human behaviour which restricts the other side to live with the spouse in the fear of endangering life or bodily injuries. The bench found the husband’s evidence did not establish specific acts of physical or mental cruelty. His cross-examination, the court noted, showed his wife had assisted him and his family during his father’s illness and participated in family rituals. It also showed she made attempts to resume cohabitation, while he had not taken steps to bring her back. The judges also rejected the challenge to maintenance.