MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court observed that mental cruelty created by the wife by lodging a complaint at his working place with wild allegations cannot be ignored as ordinary.
The husband, who is aggrieved by the trial court's findings and the dismissal of his divorce petition, had approached the Madurai bench seeking to set aside the trial court order and dissolve the marriage.
According to the case facts, they were married in 2012 and had a male child. At the time of marriage, he was a police constable and was pressured by her to get a transfer to Coimbatore from Sivaganga to stay with her sister. When he refused, a police complaint was registered, which had created mental cruelty. Hence, he filed a petition before the family court in Sivaganga seeking dissolution of marriage on the grounds of cruelty. The trial court however was not satisfied with cruelty as a reason citing that giving a complaint cannot amount to cruelty.
A division bench of Justices G Jayachandran and R Poornima noted the complaint made by her to his higher officials, mentioning wild allegations by branding him as a terrorist and had contacts with foreign outfits. The complaint was given after he instituted the divorce petition. The allegations against him included that he had connection with a terrorist group, which the judges refused to ignore. The court felt that such a complaint would naturally cause severe mental torture and stated that it covers the definition of cruelty.
The judges also found that she was not interested in saving the marital relationship through her conduct and that she had left the minor child, and also placed him under mental cruelty. The marital relationship is unworkable among them. The appellant counsel also produced a marriage certificate that showed she married another person in 2020. Hence, the court dissolved their marriage.