Hyderabad: Telangana High Court has recently dismissed a husband’s appeals seeking divorce on grounds of cruelty, holding that his “allegations were not proved by credible evidence.”
Married in 2009, the couple have a 16-year-old daughter, and have been living separately for 14 years. His wife was temperamental and left home on March 6, 2011, according to the husband. He alleged that she and her family demanded mutual-consent divorce with ₹2 lakh deposited for the child, that she filed a false case, and that he was denied access to their daughter. The wife denied the allegations, stating that her husband and his family harassed her for dowry despite ₹6.5 lakh in cash and ten tolas of gold given at marriage, demanded a further ₹5 lakh, drove her out, and forced an abortion in July 2012.
Further, confirming that “the family court rightly dismissed the husband’s plea for dissolution of marriage,” the bench said such trivial or petty issues cannot amount to mental cruelty. Dismissing the appeals, a division bench of Justice K Lakshman and Justice K Sujana upheld a family court order which had dismissed the husband’s petition for divorce and allowed the wife’s petition for restitution of conjugal rights.
The “Illatom” claim was a “bald allegation with no evidence,” said the court, noting that it was the husband who sent a notice seeking mutual-consent divorce, and he never sought restitution of conjugal rights. The bench found the husband’s case riddled with inconsistencies.