Ranchi, Sept 15: The Jharkhand High Court has dismissed a man’s appeal seeking divorce on grounds of cruelty and desertion, holding that a wife’s separate residence cannot by itself be treated as desertion when she has a reasonable cause to live apart.
A division bench of Justices Sujit Narayan Prasad and Pradeep Kumar Srivastava observed that the husband, an Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) personnel, failed to substantiate his allegations of cruelty against his wife.
The court also noted that the woman had repeatedly expressed her willingness to resume matrimonial life and that her decision to live separately could not be viewed as voluntary desertion in the circumstances of the case.
The couple married on June 11, 2016, under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. They subsequently lived at the husband’s parental home and had a son, born in February 2017.
According to the husband, his wife left the matrimonial home in August 2017 when he was posted with the SSB in Jammu and Kashmir. He claimed that she did not return despite his requests and subsequently sought divorce on grounds of cruelty and desertion.
The wife contested the allegations, maintaining that the husband had left her at her parental home and failed to take her back. She approached the court for maintenance in 2018, following which the family court directed the husband to pay Rs 10,000 per month.
During subsequent proceedings, the husband took the woman and their son back in September 2019 after giving an undertaking that he would treat them with dignity. However, according to the wife’s case, he left for duty the following day. She continued to maintain that she was willing to live with him.
The family court rejected the husband’s divorce petition in August 2023, prompting him to approach the High Court.
The High Court found that the allegation of cruelty was not supported by specific evidence. It observed that the husband had made only a general claim and had failed to identify any particular incident that could establish cruelty.
On the issue of desertion, the bench held that separation alone does not satisfy the legal requirement. A spouse seeking divorce on this ground must establish that the other spouse left the matrimonial relationship without reasonable cause or consent and with the intention of permanently ending cohabitation.
The court further observed that the wife had consistently shown an intention to continue the marital relationship, including during the court proceedings. Her counsel also conveyed her willingness to resume conjugal life despite the failure of mediation.
The bench noted that ordinary disagreements, occasional quarrels and the normal difficulties associated with married life cannot automatically constitute mental cruelty. For cruelty to become a ground for divorce, the conduct must be sufficiently serious and persistent to make continuation of the matrimonial relationship unreasonable.
The High Court accordingly upheld the family court’s decision and dismissed the husband’s appeal.
