“Unilateral withdrawal from divorce by mutual consent thus amounted to cruelty”: Delhi High Court

In a recent judgment, the division bench of the Delhi High Court comprising Justice Neena Bansal Krishna and Justice Suresh Kumar Kait held that a spouse unilaterally withdrawing from a mutually agreed divorce settlement amounts to mental cruelty. While delivering the judgment, the HC referred to the judgments of the Supreme Court and various HCs to stress that when the spouses agreed to a divorce by mutual consent, a unilateral withdrawal of consent by one spouse adds to the cruelty meted out to the other spouse. In context with the current case, the Court held that “Thus, such conduct of the appellant/wife in driving the respondent to believe that their disputes were about to be put to an end and then to withdraw from the attempted settlement can cause disquiet, cruelty, and uncertainty in the mind of the respondent. It is evident that the fight inter se the parties was not on any justifiable grounds, but was a war between the egos prompted by the desire to wreak vengeance against the spouse. Such unilateral withdrawal from divorce by mutual consent thus, amounted to cruelty.”

During the court proceedings, the HC noted that the wife did not have any concrete proof to prove the allegation of adultery. It also said the “non-adjusting attitude of the wife who had no maturity to sort out the differences with the husband without his public humiliation due to which the respondent (husband) suffered mental cruelty.” The bench further ordered, “In view of the foregoing discussions, we conclude that there is no infirmity in the Judgment dated 20.03.2017 of the learned Principal Judge granting divorce on the ground of cruelty to the respondent/husband under Section 13(1)(ia) of HMA (Hindu Marriage Act), 1955.”