Case laws/judgments on cruelty

Constitution of India

Art. 142 - Dissolution of marriage which was otherwise dead emotionally and practically - Appellant husband filing divorce petition on the ground of cruelty and desertion - Trial court granting judicial separation only - High Court dismissing husband's petition completely - Before the Supreme Court, husband contending that there was irretrievable breakdown of marriage and technicalities of law should not therefore come in the way - Supreme Court making effort to break deadlock but no solution emerged - Even existence of a male child born from the wedlock did not bring about any conciliation - Both parties expressing their desire for dissolution of the marriage - Parties remained separated for 14 years out of 16 years of marriage - Supreme Court convinced that ``any further attempt at reconciliation will be futile and it would be in the interest of both the parties to sever the matrimonial ties since the marriage has broken down irretrievably'' - The marriage was ``dead for all practical purposes and there is no chance of it being retrieved, the continuance of such marriage would itself amount to cruelty'' - Following the precedent in Romesh Chander, (1995) 2 SCC 7, Art. 142 invoked and marriage dissolved subject to husband paying permanent alimony of Rs two lakhs and cost of appeal assessed at Rs 25,000, (2008) 7 SCC 734