RANCHI: In a significant ruling, the Jharkhand High Court held that a woman's act of applying kajal and lipstick at 2 am cannot be treated as evidence of mental illness. The court observed that it is natural for a newly married bride to groom herself at any time, and such conduct cannot be interpreted as a sign of psychiatric illness.
Upholding the Giridih Family Court's order, a division bench of Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Sanjay Prasad rejected the husband's divorce petition.
The husband claimed that after his marriage in 2015, he began suspecting that his wife was mentally ill after seeing her apply kajal and lipstick at around 2 am. Alleging that her family had concealed her mental condition before the marriage, he sought a divorce on that ground.
The High Court noted that although the husband claimed his wife had undergone treatment at various places, he failed to produce a single psychiatrist, medical record, or expert witness before the court. It observed that a person cannot be declared mentally ill merely on the basis of suspicion.
The court further observed that it was an arranged marriage and that the husband had met his wife in the presence of both families before the wedding. It said that if there had been any abnormality in her behaviour, he could have noticed it before the marriage.
According to the records, the couple lived together for about two and a half years. On July 10, 2017, the husband dropped his wife at her parental home and filed a divorce petition the following day. The court concluded that the husband, and not the wife, was responsible for the breakdown of the marital relationship.
The wife told the court that she was falsely branded mentally ill after her family failed to meet dowry demands. She said her father transferred Rs 1 lakh to the husband's account through RTGS, but when an additional Rs 2 lakh was not paid, she was subjected to physical and mental harassment and was eventually abandoned.
During the hearing, the court observed that throughout the reconciliation process, the wife consistently expressed her willingness to live with her husband, but he remained unwilling to take her back.
The High Court stated that mental illness can be cited as a ground for divorce only if credible medical evidence establishes that the condition is severe enough to make a normal marital life impossible. It found that no such evidence was produced in the present case.
Dismissing the husband's appeal, the court noted that he had failed to substantiate either his claim that his wife was mentally ill or his allegation of desertion. Consequently, it held that he could not take advantage of his own wrongdoing.
“So far as the mental disorder of the respondent is concerned, the petitioner in his cross-examination at para-12 has stated that he noticed abnormal behaviour when the respondent applied kajal and lipstick while standing in front of the wardrobe at night, which frightened him. However, the deposition nowhere indicates that the respondent behaved or acted like a mentally ill person,” the court order stated.
“It is a general phenomenon for a newly married wife to adorn herself at any time after marriage,” it said.