Raipur, August 20: The Bilaspur High Court in Chhattisgarh has ruled on a divorce case, emphasizing that while marriage establishes a new family, it does not absolve children of their moral and legal responsibilities towards their elderly and ill parents. The court stated that if a wife pressures her husband to abandon his sick parents without valid reasons, such behavior constitutes mental cruelty towards the husband.
Justice Naresh Kumar Chandra Vansi upheld the family court’s decision to grant a divorce based on cruelty. The case involved a Sikh man from Dongargarh, who married a woman from Patthalgaon on March 8, 2007. Family disputes began approximately a year and a half after their marriage.
The husband claimed that despite his father’s three heart surgeries, his wife consistently pressured him to leave his parents. When he refused, she allegedly mistreated his in-laws. In 2018, during a social reconciliation attempt involving relatives, the wife submitted a written apology, but her behavior did not change.
Frustrated, the husband filed for divorce in the Dongargarh Family Court. On November 11, 2024, the court ruled in favor of the husband, citing cruelty, prompting the wife to appeal to the High Court. During the hearing, she alleged that her husband mistreated her at the instigation of his mother-in-law and demanded ₹50 lakh under the pretext of opening a petrol pump. She also claimed she was coerced into signing the apology.
After reviewing witness statements and evidence, the High Court found the wife’s allegations baseless. Citing precedents from the Supreme Court, the court clarified that in Hindu society, it is a son’s duty to care for and support his parents. The husband’s refusal to leave his ailing father was deemed reasonable and natural, while the wife’s persistent pressure to separate was classified as mental harassment.
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D.K./A.B.M.
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