The Calcutta High Court recently said that mere demand by a wife to live separately from her husband does not always amount to cruelty warranting the severance of marital ties.

“Mere demanding to live separately cannot be said to be a cruelty of such degree which would invite the marital tie to be severed. There may be circumstances for such demand which cannot be said to be unreasonable and therefore, it is a reciprocal obligations imposed upon both the persons to understood the emotions in the attending circumstances,” the court said.

The Court also said that every conflict between spouses may not amount to cruelty. “Two individuals brought up in a different environment may at times have a conflicting views but those are always regarded as a vagaries of life as well as normal wear and tear of the marital relationship. Every conflict may not tantamount to a cruelty, which is decided on a high degree of the evidence,” the court said.

The Court made the observation while dismissing a husband’s plea for divorce. The husband said that his wife often picked quarrels with him, demanded a separate living. He further said that the wife tried to control his finances and that she eventually deserted him by leaving the matrimonial house in 2013.

The wife denied all these allegations. She said that she had moved to her parental house to pursue her education. She submitted that she was later asked to live in the father-in-law’s house in Jharkhand, while the husband remained in Kolkata.

She also alleged that her husband had an extramarital affair with a colleague and that he was living with the said lady in Kolkata. Despite this, the wife was ready to cohabit with him, the High Court was told.

The court found that the husband failed to prove his allegations against the wife.

(With inputs from Bar&Bench)