RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh High Court held that hurling abuses and sending derogatory messages to a wife’s family members causes profound anguish and amounts to mental cruelty, entitling her to a dissolution of marriage.
Overturning a trial court verdict, the High Court dissolved a marriage solemnised in 2021 on the grounds of cruelty under Section 13(1)(i-a) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Parth Prateem Sahu and Justice Sushma Sawant passed the verdict in an appeal filed by Archana Singh (32, who hails from Ballia, UP, and is presently a resident of Ambikapur) against her husband, Anand Kumar Gupta (35, a resident of Aara, Bihar).
The appellant had challenged an April 2024 order of the Family Court in Ambikapur, Surguja, which had dismissed her divorce petition for want of sufficient evidence.
According to the appellant, the couple married on December 5, 2021, under Hindu rites. However, within a month, the husband allegedly began physically and verbally abusing her, demanding an air conditioner as dowry and threatening to sell her jewellery. Distressed by the continuous harassment, the woman returned to her parental home in Ambikapur.
The appellant alleged that subsequent attempts to reconcile failed, and when her younger sisters intervened to protest his assaults, the husband sent abusive text messages to her and her sisters, leaving them terrified. The husband never appeared before the Family Court or the High Court to rebut the allegations and was proceeded against ex parte.
The High Court set aside the Family Court’s decision, observing that the trial court had erred in discarding screenshots of WhatsApp messages simply on procedural grounds regarding caller identification and completeness.
Invoking Section 14 of the Family Courts Act, 1984, the Bench emphasised that Family Courts are not bound by the strict rules of evidence that govern ordinary civil courts.
"A perusal of these documents reflects the respondent's mindset, indicating that he did not hold a respectful or appropriate view even towards his sisters-in-law. Such conduct, particularly when directed towards the wife's family members, would undoubtedly cause deep mental anguish and constitute grave mental cruelty to any wife," the Bench observed.
Allowing the appeal, the High Court dissolved the marriage and granted the wife liberty to seek permanent alimony separately under Section 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act.
