MATRIMONIAL CRUELTY IN INDIA

This article was written by Abinaya Saikumar, a student of Sastra University.

“Cruelty is the law pervading all nature and society and we can’t get out of it if we would.” When this happens wedlock’s tend to break. The Indian Marriage Act, The Hindu Marriage Act[1], 1955 , the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939[2], the Parsi Marriage and divorce act,1936[3], The Indian divorce act, 1869[4] nullifies a marriage by means of divorce. All of these acts indubitably have cruelty as a major ground for nullification. However none of these acts define what cruelty is.

 In matrimonial Life, cruelty can be defined in many ways. It has many perspectives which depends upon the socio-economic status and circumstances of parties to marriage. It varies from person to person. It also varies with time, place, economic status and other circumstances. Cruelty can be both physical and mental. Physical cruelty provides more of a direct evidence i.e., it can be perceptible when compared to mental cruelty.  Cruelty can be judged by the circumstances. A conduct can be declared cruel if it makes staying together impossible for the parties to marriage.

In Sirajmohmedkhan Janmohamadkhan v. Hafizunnisa Yasinkhan[5], this Court stated that the concept of legal cruelty changes according to the changes and advancement of social concept and standards of living. With the advancement of our social conceptions, this feature has obtained legislative recognition, that a second marriage is a sufficient ground for separate residence and maintenance. Moreover, to establish legal cruelty, it is not necessary that physical violence should be used. Continuous ill-treatment, cessation of marital intercourse, studied neglect, indifference on the part of the husband, and an assertion on the part of the husband that the wife is unchaste are all factors which lead to mental or legal cruelty.

Mental cruelty can be drawn from the facts and circumstance of the case whereas physical cruelty can be drawn from the conduct of one spouse toward the other spouse which endangers the other spouse physical health. Therefore, repetitive abuse, inhumane treatment known also domestic violence amounts to cruelty. The usual ground for cruelty is violent behavior but there is more into it. Damaging each other physically and mentally where there is verbal abuse, violent language, threats of harm, continuous quarrel, anger, screaming etc makes the parties of marriage undesirable to live together and this amounts to cruelty.

The example of mental cruelty can be seen in the case of Mohinder kaur vs Bhaq Ram[6], where the husband filed a suit for restitution of conjugal rights alleging that his wife was living in adultery with another man. But these allegations were found to be unjustified and so the wife filed a suit for judicial separation alleging cruelty for the false allegations on her. It was on the grounds of mental cruelty. Under section 498A of Indian Penal Code , husband or relatives of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty can be punished with an imprisonment and fine.

Cruelty can be punished respective of the reason for which the parties filed the suit. Under section 498A of IPC, husband or relatives of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty can be punished with an imprisonment and fine. The section 304B of IPC also mentions about the punishment for dowry death. Both criminal and civil laws apply to matrimonial offences depending upon the conduct of the act.

If the complaint by wife against husband and his family is fraudulent, then it is cruelty of husband by wife and this can lead to divorce. The High Court of Bombay in the case of Shri Mangesh Balkrushna Bhoir  v. Sau. Leena Mangesh Bhoir[7] , the court has given judgement regarding the false complainant against the husband and his family members by wife, and they got acquitted, such complaint by wife amounts to cruelty, for which divorce can be  obtained by husband.

This applies vice-versa too, if the husband files a false complaint then it also amounts to cruelty. In the case of K.Srinivas v. K.Sunita[8] where the Apex Court held that it is a settled point of law that if either spouse lodges a false complaint, it would invariably amount to cruelty and would enable the other spouse to file a petition for divorce. The Court said that whenever a complaint filed by the wife against her husband under Section 498A, IPC is rejected, and the husband and his family members are subsequently acquitted; then it can be said that the complaint filed by the wife is fraudulent.

In India, dowry death is also one of most important ground for cruelty. Women are great victims of dowry system in India due to the nature of male dominated society. Dowry death can be defined as death of the women where they are killed or driven to kill themselves due to the continuous harassment and torture by her husband and in laws for increase in dowry apart from what is gifted during her marriage. Dowry can be in the form of money or any property as well. When the demand by the bridegroom and his families becomes unbearable, it leads to the harassment of the bride and her family and amounts to cruelty. Cruelty can be punished respective of the reason for which the parties filed the suit. Section 304B of the IPC mentions about the punishment for dowry death with imprison­ment for a term which shall not be less than seven years but which may extend to imprisonment for life.

Cruelty in marriage which once pertained to the husband and his family has now been extended to women also. This makes it difficult for the husband to live with her. One such case was filed by Mrs. Mayadevi[9] against a judgement of the Rajasthan High Court confirming divorce granted to her husband by the lower court. She was the wife of Mr. Jagdish Prasad and the mother of 4 children.  The sought divorce alleged that he was subjected to mental and physical cruelty. He said that she did not even provide food to him and his children and used to falsely implicate him in a case of dowry demand. She also threatened to kill the children and put the blame on him and his family members. She was temperamentally so cruel that she killed 3 children for which she was convicted. The trial accepted the allegations and granted divorce.

Marital rape is one of the grounds for cruelty. Rape is one of the most heinous crimes committed by men against women. Marital rape can be defined as unwanted or forceful sexual intercourse by a man without the willful consent or by the use of threat and physical harm towards his wife. A marriage is a bond of trust and affection but a husband exercising sexual superiority by the means of demand and forcing his wife, certainly amounts to cruelty.  Though in India, there are many laws to punish the rapist, these laws do not give protection to married women against forceful sexual intercourse by her husband. So, women suffering such problem don’t have any legal remedy because marital rape is not considered to be an offence, therefore victims in these cases are condemned to bear the pain silently and have no remedy. It is necessary that laws should be implemented so that women get protection against marital rape. Though section 375 of Indian penal code, provides provision for commitment of rape, it also gives exception that rape by husband is not an offence and it is therefore not punishable.

 In the case of State of Maharashtra v. Madhkar Narayan[10], the Supreme Court has held that every woman is entitled to her sexual privacy and it is not open to for any and every person to violate her privacy as and whenever he wished. Though marital rape is genuine type of wrongdoing against women in India, it is not criminalized and needs governments consideration, yet. Since, the rate of marital rape is alarmingly high in India, it is necessary that the crime of marital rape should be criminalized.

Cruelty in matrimonial life may be of unfounded variety, which can be subtle or brutal. It may be words, gestures or by mere silence, violent or non-violent. It differs among the people of different scenario. There is no provision of definition as to what exactly is. It is up to the judiciary to decide what amounts to cruelty to a particular person in a certain circumstances. In spite of the speculative nature of cruelty the marriage act in India considers cruelty to fall within the purview of matrimonial wrong.

Talking to an expert/therapist about the issues surrounding your personal life can ease the mental strain, pressure that may have been caused by matrimonial cruelty/wrong.

[1] Section 13 of The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, provides for dissolution of a Hindu Marriage by a decree of divorce on 13 grounds.

[2] Section 2 of the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939, provides divorce on 8 grounds.

[3] Section 32 of the Parsi Marriage and divorce act, 1936, provides divorce on 11 grounds.

[4] Section 10 of The Indian divorce act, 1869, provides on 7 grounds of dissolution of marriage of Christians.

[5] (1981) 4 S.C.C 250.

[6] 1978 SCC OnLine P&H 202.

[7] AIR 2016 (NOC 364) 172.

[8] (2014) 16 S.C.C 34.

[9] Smt. Mayadevi vs Jagdish Prasad, (2007)3 S.C.C 136.

[10] AIR 1991 S.C.C 207.