Sc: refusal to participate in divorce proceedings is itself cruelty

Supreme Court: Refusal to participate in proceeding for divorce and forcing the Appellant to stay in a dead marriage constitutes mental cruelty

Sukhendu Das Vs. Rita Mukherjee

Civil Appeal No.7186 of 2016 : MANU/SC/1275/2017

Relevant portion of the judgment:

"The Respondent, who did not appear before the trial Court after filing of written statement, did not respond to the request made by the High Court for personal appearance. In spite of service of Notice, the Respondent did not show any interest to appear in this Court also. This conduct of the Respondent by itself would indicate that, she is not interested in living with the Appellant. Refusal to participate in proceeding for divorce and forcing the Appellant to stay in a dead marriage would itself constitute mental cruelty."

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Poster's Note [i.e. NOT reproduced verbatim from the SC judgment ]: There were peculiar circumstances in the case, being that the parties had already been living apart for 17 years and their daughter was already 24 years old. Even so, the Supreme Court does seem to have recognized in these peculiar facts, the truth of a dead marriage.