CRUELTY AGAINST HUSBANDS BY WIVES AND ITS REMEDIES
INTRODUCTION?
Marriage is no more a ‘sacrosanct’ or ‘sacred’ due to the prevailing laws for regulating marriages and divorces. Even, cruelty is another reason that the institution of marriage is undermined. Cruelty is a type of matrimonial wrong committed either by the husbands on their wives or by the wives on their husbands. This is also a ground for divorce. Cruelty is not defined under any act it is left to the discretion of the court to decide whether the offense of cruelty is committed or not. When the concept of cruelty was taken from the English law it constitutes only physical injuries but now Importantly, it doesn’t include only physical injuries but also includes sexual abuse, mental agony, and emotional abuse in its arena of defining cruelty.?
In India, we are still normalizing the stereotypical mindset that promotes that men are of harridan or bossy behavior and women are gullible and the creature which can be easily victimized by anyone. Everyone talks about women, if anything happens against her, people understand and accept the fact that she needs help but on the other side of the coin, it is difficult for men to express their emotions and grievances because if anything injustice happens to their husband’s society generally doesn’t believe and the ray of hope that men instill of getting support by the society diminished. People talk about injustice happening to women but no one talks about men. Due to the sudden escalation in the false matrimonial cases against husbands, it is now crucial to talk about cruelty against husbands by wives and its remedies.
ACTS OF CRUELTY BY WIVES TO THEIR HUSBANDS?
Since this definition of cruelty is highly subjective, there is no hard and fast rule to follow. It may vary from case to case. What is cruel in one situation may not be in another.
EXPRESSION “TREATING WITH CRUELTY”
The phrase "treated with cruelty" would refer to and imply harsh behavior of a certain intensity and persistence. It is also delivered by the Punjab and Haryana court in the case of Ashwini Kumar V. Smt. Swatantar Sehgal, “cruelty has to be of such type which would satisfy the conscience of the court to believe that the relations between the parties had deteriorated to such an extent due to the conduct of one of the spouses that is has become impossible for them to live together without mental agony, torture or distress.??
In India, mostly in a matrimonial cases, the clients plead before the court about what their lawyer asks them to do so. Instead of falsely challenging the factum of abortion, the fundamental rights of personal liberty, equality, and equal protection under the law should have been pleaded in this case. A wife has equal rights in marriage as a husband has. It is at the discretion of the wife whether to bear the womb or abortion is the exclusive right of the wife and by the law, no concept of consent is imposed on the husband. The amended law's definition of cruelty should be interpreted in light of the constitutional provisions. A case could have been easily settled, and the wife should have been given a chance. There may have been certain reasons for abortion that should have been pleaded in order to reduce the appellant petitioner's perception of cruelty. A woman is not an Ardhangini of pati Devata of old textual text.?
MEANING OF CRUELTY WITHIN THE AMBIT OF SECTION 10(1)(b) OF THE HINDU MARRIAGE ACT.?
Under section 10(1)(b) of the Hindu marriage act, it has been implied that the harm and injury caused to the reputation, mental health, and career are some of the dominant factors which help in determining whether the conduct or behavior amounts to cruelty or not. Other actions are also judged to decide whether the elements of cruelty are involved or not or lead to the destruction of a matrimonial relationship.?
MISCONCEPTION ABOUT THE SIZE OF THE PENIS?
The misconception or gossip among the young girls related to the size of the penis due to lack of sex education or lack of knowledge related to sexology. Young ladies feel dissatisfied when they found that the size of their husband’s penis is not up to their expectations women feel that their sexual lust will not be satisfied but it happens due to the sexual weakness in males due to unhealthy food habits and lifestyle. After all, these young ladies call their husband impotent and on this ground become the offender of cruelty and file a decree of divorce not for her acts but for the careless habits of their husband which have led him to semi-impotence.
STATUTORY PROVISIONS CONCERNING ‘CRUELTY’ AS A MATRIMONIAL WRONG??
REMEDIES AGAINST CRUELTY
The aggrieved person has a right to claim remedies under civil or criminal remedies. According to the nature of cruelty involved in the act. Now, the constitution grants equal status to both men and women. Earlier it was embedded in the Hindu text that women are half of the men and under Mohammedan law, they believe that women have no separate identity with the respect of their husband, and the testimony of a woman was not given importance, two women’s testimony becomes equal to one man testimony.?
The Indian constitution guarantees equal rights to both men and women. As Article 14 of the constitution is a fundamental right under part lll of the Indian constitution. It talks about equality before the law, it states that the state shall not discriminate based on gender, sex, caste, religion, etc.
The matrimonial laws are only concerned with divorce, judicial separation, conjugal rights, etc. the aggrieved person can demand compensation for the acts of the wrongdoer if not compensation, then the court can also grant the injunction against the spouse committing or apt to commit the same wrong.?
The aggrieved person can claim criminal remedies by filing a complaint against the accused. For example, there is punishment for bigamy, and cruelty mentioned under the Indian penal code, and many precautionary measures are also mentioned under the code of criminal procedure.
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The person is overwhelmed with the right to approach the high court or the apex court whenever there is an infringement of a fundamental right under articles 226 and 32 of the Indian constitution.?
CASE LAWS
SAMAR GHOSH V. JAYA GHOSH
FACTS OF THE CASE
The appellant and the respondent both were the IAS officer who was married under the special marriage act, of 1954 and were having one girl child. The custody of the girl child was given to the mother. She unitarily decided not to have another kid for 2 years. The husband contracted the chronic disease and the respondent left him and went to barilley to live with her brother. After 2 years, the appellant was transferred to Calcutta but due to his health conditions, he was transferred back to Calcutta. They both mutually decided to start living again. The husband decided to again develop healthy relations and to stable their relationship but the appellant didn’t cooperate and the respondent also has to make food for himself as she makes food only for herself. Even, sometimes she yelled at her husband in the front of the servant and faced humiliation many times due to which they started living separately.?
ISSUE
Whether the petitioner entitled to a decree of divorce?
???????????JUDGEMENT?
In this landmark case, the Supreme Court stated that "no uniform standard has been laid down for determining mental cruelty." However, the court ruled that refusing to have children after marriage is cruel. The Court determined that the parties had been living apart for more than 16 years and that the marriage had irretrievably broken down. The Court also stated that the Petitioner’s husband left to fetch for himself, implying that the parties have no love and emotion for each other. The Supreme Court ruled that the High Court erred in overturning the trial court's decision because it failed to take into account the fact that the parties had been living apart for a long time. The High Court refused to overturn a well-reasoned trial court decision on the basis of a correct analysis of mental cruelty.' The appeal was thus dismissed, and the parties were ordered to bear their own costs.
NISHA RASHMI V. KAMLESH PANDEY
FACTS OF THE CASE?
The wife was with the family for 4 or 5 days but she never tried to resolve any issue. It was also found that the wife humiliated the family and the husband and makes the life of the husband miserable. The husband contended that she has no sense of love and respect towards the family and was showing cruelty towards the family. She also threatened him with awful or frightful consequences. The wife was aggrieved by the decision of the family court to dissolve the marriage on the grounds of cruelty.?
ISSUES?
WHETHER THE DECISION OF THE FAMILY COURT VALID OR NOT?
JUDGEMENT?
After hearing the Appellant's and Respondent's arguments, the High Court concluded that the entire sequence of events demonstrated the wife's neglect and indifference. It stated that the Family Court had every reason to believe that the case was filed to embarrass and harass the husband and his family. The Court considered all of the evidence presented by the husband to show that he attempted to resolve the issue on his own but failed due to a lack of favorable response from their side. The Hon'ble Court considered all of the findings of the family court and concluded that there was mental harassment on the part of the wife and that the verdict of the family court does not suffer from any perversity in the appreciation of evidence. The Court dismissed the appeal because it lacked merit.
CONCLUSION
The laws of cruelty against men is not clear as women. Even though we live under the shadow of patriarchy and the dance of men is there under such conditions is difficult to believe that men can also be the victim. Cruelty is cruelty whether the victim is a husband or wife, both genders has the equal power to file a decree for divorce. The constitution of India also considers both the men and women on the same footing as even mentioned in article 14. Cruelty is not only limited to physical injuries but also includes mental agony, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and financial abuse also. Although the cruelty is not defined under any act it is at the discretion of the court whether the action taken by the wife or the husband constitutes cruelty or not. The act of cruelty breaches the fundamental right of people to live with dignity and liberty which is provided by the Indian constitution under article 21. There should be a female judge also in the bench in dealing with matrimonial cases. The couple should be given knowledge related to sexology to reduce the number of divorces because of impotency. At last, “no one should be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”