Tolerance foundation of sound marriage: Supreme Court

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, May 3

Describing tolerance, adjustment and mutual respect between husband and wife as the foundation of a sound marriage, the Supreme Court on Friday said a criminal case should be filed only as a measure of last resort, that too in a very genuine case of cruelty and harassment.

“There may be cases of genuine ill-treatment and harassment by the husband and his family members towards the wife. The degree of such ill-treatment or harassment may vary. However, the police machinery should be resorted to as a measure of last resort, that too in a very genuine case of cruelty and harassment,” a Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said.

“Every matrimonial conduct, which may cause annoyance to the other, may not amount to cruelty. Mere trivial irritations, quarrels between spouses, which happen in day-to-day married life, may also not amount to cruelty,” it said quashing a case of dowry demand and cruelty against a Haryana man.

“The police machinery cannot be utilised for the purpose of holding the husband at ransom so that he can be squeezed by the wife at the instigation of her parents or relatives or friends. In all cases, where the wife complains of harassment or ill-treatment, Section 498A of the IPC cannot be applied mechanically. No FIR is complete without Sections 506(2) and 323 of the IPC,” it lamented. “The foundation of a sound marriage is tolerance, adjustment and respecting one another. Tolerance to each other’s fault to a certain bearable extent has to be inherent in every marriage. Petty quibbles, trifling differences are mundane matters and should not be exaggerated and blown out of proportion to destroy what is said to have been made in heaven.

“The court must appreciate that all quarrels must be weighed from that point of view in determining what constitutes cruelty in each particular case, always keeping in view the physical and mental conditions of the parties, their character and social status. A very technical and hyper-sensitive approach will prove to be disastrous for the very institution of marriage,” it said, adding that the main sufferers in matrimonial disputes were the children.