Taunting handicap ‘most inhumane kind of cruelty’: Punjab and Haryana High Court

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 18

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that taunting a person for being handicapped, pushing him around and throwing him on the ground when he is helpless and unable to defend himself constitutes as “the most inhumane kind of cruelty that can be meted out to the disabled”.

The assertion by the Bench of Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Nidhi Gupta came on an appeal filed by the appellant-husband against an order, dated April 21, 2010, passed by the Hoshiarpur Additional District Judge (ADJ), whereby his petition under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act for the grant of divorce on the grounds of cruelty and desertion by the respondent-wife was dismissed.

Justice Gupta assrted that such actions of the respondent-wife amounted to inflicting both physical and mental cruelty on the appellant-husband. “Accordingly, the findings of the Hoshiarpur ADJ in this regard are held to be erroneous and contrary to the evidence on record and are, as such, reversed,” Justice Gupta added.

Justice Gupta added that the impugned order was strangely silent regarding the testimonies. No mention whatsoever was made in the impugned order regarding the statements of these witnesses, which were vital to the case. The appellant’s averments in this regard have been rejected only on the ground that he had not given the specific date and time and place when the respondent had pushed or taunted him.

“In our considered view, this is not tenable. There is sufficient evidence on record in the form of testimonies where it is established that the respondent ill-treated the appellant for his handicap,” the Bench concluded.

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