Cruelty may differ for man and woman, says apex court

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, September 7

Noting that cruelty for men and women may differ, the Supreme Court (SC) has said a relatively more elastic and broad approach is required while examining a wife’s plea for divorce.

Cruelty is one of the grounds for divorce under Section 13(1) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, which sets contours and rigours for the grant of divorce at the instance of both the parties to a marriage.

Underlining that the word “cruelty” under the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 had no fixed meaning, a Bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice MM Sundresh said the provision gave a very wide discretion to the court to apply it “liberally and contextually”.

Writing the judgment for the Bench, Justice Sundresh said cruelty in one case may not be the same for another and it had to be applied from person to person while taking note of the attending circumstances.

“Therefore, what is cruelty for a woman in a given case may not be cruelty for a man, and a relatively more elastic and broad approach is required when we examine a case in which a wife seeks divorce,” the top court said on Wednesday.

However, it said courts should be guided by the principles of equity and consider balancing the rights of the parties and “must adopt social-context thinking, cognisant of the social and economic realities as well as the status and background of the parties”.

Reversing a concurrent decision of the trial court and the Chhattisgarh High Court rejecting the wife’s divorce plea, the top court granted her a decree of divorce to end the couple’s 21-year-old marriage.

“The trial court and the High Court adopted a hyper-technical and pedantic approach in declining the decree of divorce. It is not as if the respondent-husband is willing to live with the appellant–wife,” the Bench said.