HIGH COURT NOVEMBER 2024 WEEKLY ROUNDUP | Stories on OCI; Ashneer Grover’s wife; Termination of Pregnancy; Maharashtra Elections; and more
A quick legal roundup to cover important stories from all High Courts this week.
Cruelty
‘Making wife sleep on carpet not cruelty’; Bombay HC sets aside conviction u/s 306 IPC against husband and in-laws
To apply Section 3061 of the Penal Code, 1860, it is expected of prosecution to demonstrate that there is live link/active role played by appellant in instigating the suicide.
Husband’s second marriage causes emotional distress, amounting to cruelty; Madras High Court upholds compensation to Muslim wife
Madras High Court emphasised that the process of talaq requires strict adherence to established procedures. If the husband asserts that he has divorced his first wife by properly pronouncing talaq three times, but the wife disputes this, it raises the critical question of whether the marriage has been validly dissolved.
Wife’s guilt under S. 498-A IPC can’t become a ground to hold husband guilty in absence of specific material on record: SC
The Division Bench opined that in Section 498-A IPC cases, the courts have to be careful to identify instances of over implication and to avert the suffering of ignominy and inexpiable consequences.
When SC intervened to rescue parties trapped in criminal proceedings provoked by a Father-son property dispute
It was observed that the Complaint/FIR was replete with just one theme i.e. that the appellants are threatening the respondents that they will deny them share in the property. The Complaint/FIR was intended only to further their interest in the civil dispute.
False criminal prosecution by wife against husband and his family amounts to cruelty: Allahabad High Court
“For the act of cruelty committed, once arrest of parents of a spouse is caused on false allegations or allegations found to be false during a criminal trial, no further or strict proof of cruelty may be prescribed or applied by Courts.”
Minor girl’s marriage to adult constitutes mental and physical Cruelty, a ground for divorce under Section 13 of Hindu Marriage Act: MP High Court
The Court declared the marriage as null and void on the grounds of mental and physical cruelty as the wife, being a minor, was not ready to perform the marital obligations
‘Intention is not a necessary element in cruelty’: Allahabad HC grants divorce to husband on grounds of cruelty and desertion
“The long period of continuous separation of a decade establishes that the matrimonial bond is beyond repair. Marriage between the parties has become a fiction, though supported by a legal tie.”
‘Husband never attempted to establish that wife was incurably of unsound mind’; Allahabad HC dismisses husband’s divorce plea
While the husband and his witnesses made statements stating that the wife had been prescribed medicines for her mental ill health, however, they did not demonstrate the nature of her illness, or the extent of affliction suffered by her.
Wife declining to cohabit with husband by forcing him to live in separate room, amounts to both physical and mental cruelty: Allahabad High Court
“There was sufficient evidence to prove the ground of cruelty pleaded by the husband for grant of a decree of divorce”
Complete denial of company to spouse, without any justifiable reason, amounts to cruelty; Constitutes death of spirit and soul of Hindu marriage: Allahabad HC
“A Hindu marriage is a sacrament and not just a social contract where one partner abandons the other without reason or just cause or existing or valid circumstance necessitating that conduct, the sacrament loses its soul and spirit, though it may continue to hold its external form and body.”
Read why Bombay HC quashed S. 498-A IPC proceedings initiated against husband’s paramour by wife
“For the attraction of Section 498-A, cruelty shall be inflicted upon the wife either by the husband or a relative of the husband; a paramour in extra-marital affair is not a relative of the husband.”
[S. 498-A] ‘In-laws asking daughter-in-law to show them the house cleaned by her on video call is a sadist manner of ill-treatment’; Bombay HC refuses to quash FIR
The complainant was pitted against the might of petitioners, i.e., husband, father-in-law, and three sisters-in-law, who were abusing and ill-treating her on petty issues and their sole aim was to extort money from her and her parents.
‘Refusal to acknowledge irretrievable breakdown of marriage does more harm than good’: Kerala HC allows appeal by wife for divorce
“Marriage should be a union based on mutual respect, love, and understanding. When one spouse seeks freedom from a relationship that has become a source of distress, denying this request only perpetuates suffering and contradicts the very essence of a marital bond”
MP High Court quashes charges under Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act; stresses on need for UCC to curb superstitious practices
“There are a lot of other deprecating, fundamentalist, superstitious and ultra-conservative practices prevalent in the society that are clothed in the name of faith and belief.”
Cruelty and Desertion mutually exclusive; Once cruelty is proved, divorce should be granted irrespective of proof of desertion: Allahabad HC
“The embittered relationship between the husband and wife has not witnessed any moment of peace for the last more than a decade or more, and it is a marital relationship only on paper. The fact is that this relationship has broken down irretrievably long back.”
Can a wife claim that sexual act by her husband is without consent? Madhya Pradesh HC answers
The Court stated that as per the amended definition of rape, any sexual intercourse or act, by the husband with his wife not below the age of fifteen years is not a rape, therefore, consent is immaterial.
Husband cannot be allowed to play with the dignity of his wife at his own will; Patna High Court denies anticipatory bail to husband
Shariat law permits Muslim to contract more than one marriage, but it must be borne in mind that merely because an act was lawful, it did not per se become justifiable in married life. Contracting a second marriage by a Muslim may be lawful, but it causes enormous cruelty to the first wife.
Marriage Certificate a valid proof of Hindu marriage only when marriage ceremony has been performed as per S. 7 of Hindu Marriage Act: Supreme Court
“A marriage is not an event for ‘song and dance’ and ‘wining and dining’ or an occasion to demand and exchange dowry and gifts by undue pressure leading to possible initiation of criminal proceedings thereafter. A marriage is not a commercial transaction.”
[Death by Suicide] Allegations were general and omnibus in nature; Bombay High Court acquits husband due to insufficient evidence
To attract the charge of Section 306 of the Penal Code, the prosecution must establish incitement, instigation, aiding, or abetment to commit suicide.