NEW DELHI: A man who was "wilfully deserted" by his estranged wife has been granted divorce by a Delhi court after the woman failed to provide any satisfactory reason for leaving him.
While granting the divorce recently, family court Principal Judge Shail Jain observed, "I am of the opinion that the respondent (wife) has not been able to prove any reasonable cause due to which she had to live separately from the petitioner (husband)."
The decree granted under the Hindu Marriage Act, allows for divorce on the ground of one of the spouse having deserted the other for a continuous period of two years before filing of the petition.
The court noted that the woman, who is presently residing in Dubai, had left the country in August 2016 for research work without even informing her husband, which showed that her intention was to desert the man.
The petitioner husband through his advocate Atul Jain had sought divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act, claiming that his wife had not only deserted him but also subjected him to physical and mental cruelty.
The husband through Jain alleged that his wife had caused him "grave mental cruelty" after she didn't attend to household duties and ended matrimonial relations with him. However, the court denied the claim.
He also claimed that even after repeated attempts, the wife rejected all his pleas and left the matrimonial home in Delhi on May 10, 2015, without any "provocation or reason" and also took all her belongings.
The court was hearing a plea which stated that the couple got married on January 31, 1998, in Agra and are living separately since May 5, 2015.
The woman, who is with a reputed law college and is currently pursuing a legal research project in Dubai, had alleged in court that her husband was a "compulsive drinker" and used to "mentally harass her, humiliating her on all possible occasions".