'Free-willed' wife not observing 'Parda' doesn't amount to cruelty or entitle husband to divorce: Allahabad HC
The Allahabad High Court has declined to accept a husband's contention that non-observance of parda' (veil) by his wife would entitle him to obtain divorce on the grounds of mental cruelty.
FollowThe Allahabad High Court has declined to accept a husband's contention that non-observance of parda' (veil) by his wife would entitle him to obtain divorce on the grounds of mental cruelty. A bench of Justices Saumitra Dayal Singh and Donadi Ramesh was hearing an appeal filed by the appellant-husband against the dismissal of his petition seeking divorce on grounds of mental cruelty and desertion.
The Justice Singh-led Bench, in its judgment regarding the issue of cruelty, declined to accept the contention that the wife had been a “free-willed person”, who would go out on her own to the market and other places and did not observe 'parda'.
The husband alleged that his wife was in an adulterous relationship with another man, and she, being a free-willed person, would go out of her own to the market and other places and did not observe 'Parda'. He also submitted that his wife used to pass on verbal insults to him due to his poor economic status. He claimed that such acts and other acts constituted cruelty against him.
The Allahabad High Court said, "The act of the wife being free-willed or a person, who would travel on her own or meet up with other members of the civil society without forming any illegal or immoral relationship, may not be described as an act of cruelty committed, in these facts".
The Allahabad High Court further added, "insofar as such acts and other acts have been attributed to the respondent (wife), it is difficult to accept the same as acts of cruelty committed, insofar as both parties are well educated. The appellant (husband) is a qualified Engineer, whereas the respondent (wife) is a government teacher".
Regarding the husband's argument of alleged verbal insults, the Court noted that it was not disputed that the parties' marriage was arranged and the husband's family status was known to the wife, and still, the marriage was solemnised.
Furthermore, regarding the wife's alleged immoral acts, the Court noted that to prove the husband's allegation, no direct or credible evidence was presented to prove that she was actually involved in an immoral act.
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