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The Orissa High Court has upheld a divorce granted by a Puri Family Court on the grounds of mental cruelty, ruling that a wife’s repeated derogatory remarks about her husband’s physical infirmity constituted sufficient cause for dissolving the marriage.
The decision, delivered by a Division Bench of Justices Bibhu Prasad Routray and Chittaranjan Dash and published on Friday, said that verbal abuse is mental cruelty, especially when targeted at a person’s physical condition.
Timeline of Marital Discord
According to the case report, the couple had married in 2016, but tensions surfaced shortly after. The wife initially left the matrimonial home but returned in January 2017 after reconciliation, but again moved to her parental home in 2018, where she has stayed since.
The husband filed for divorce in 2019, alleging that his wife continuously taunted him for his physical deformity, calling him names like “Kempa” and “Nikhatu,” terms that belittled his physical condition and, he claimed, caused immense mental anguish.
The Family Court in Puri granted him a divorce decree without permanent alimony, which the wife subsequently challenged before the High Court.
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Court’s Reasoning and Observations
The High Court dismissed the wife’s appeal, which had claimed that she was forced to leave her marital home and that the cruelty charges were baseless. The bench ruled that cruelty need not always be physical and could include mental agony caused by verbal insults.
The court added that mutual respect is fundamental to marriage and that spouses are expected to support each other, particularly in the face of physical challenges. The wife’s continued humiliation of her husband was found to breach this core tenet.
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On Alimony and Streedhan
While the wife had also sought permanent alimony and return of her streedhan, the bench declined to pass any specific directions due to a lack of income evidence on record.
However, it allowed the wife to pursue the matter afresh before the Family Court, Puri, leaving the door open for further adjudication on the financial aspects.
