Forcing Man to Leave His Own Family and Live as ‘Ghar Jamai’ Amounts to Cruelty: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court recently said forcing a man to leave his own family and live as “ghar jamai”, by either his wife or her parents, amounts to cruelty.

A division bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal, while allowing the appeal and granting divorce to an estranged couple, observed, “The gravamen of any marriage is the succour and peace that the couple derive from the company of each other. The very fact that the parties were able to live together barely for six months and, since February 2002, have been living separately proves that the parties were unable to sustain their matrimonial relationship. For a couple to be deprived of each other’s company, proves that the marriage cannot survive and such deprivation of conjugal relationship is an act of extreme cruelty.”

The court referred to Narendra v K Meena, where the Supreme Court in 2016 had held that asking a son to separate from his family amounts to cruelty.

According to the man’s plea, the couple got married in 2001 as per Hindu customs and rituals. But, within a few months, his wife’s behaviour became aggressive and she expressed reluctance to stay with him, the plea added.

The plea stated that in February 2002, the woman’s parents took her back to Delhi following which the husband made sincere efforts to convince her to return. But, she refused and told him that her family wanted him to move from Gujarat to Delhi and stay in their house as “ghar jamai”, which he said no to, the plea added.

The man, in his plea, further stated that a daughter was born out of their wedlock in June 2002. But, he was never informed of this and, later when he attempted to meet the child in 2004, was not allowed.

The woman, in her written statement, argued that she was harassed on account of dowry, subjected to repeated assault and was deprived of meals. “The respondent had claimed that she was being beaten up and subjected to acts of cruelty, but has not been able to substantiate it with any incident… a false complaint in itself is an act of cruelty,” the court said while allowing the man’s plea.

An earlier petition moved by the man before a family court was dismissed in April 2005, and was since not pursued on an assurance by his wife and her family that she will reconcile and return to her matrimonial home.