Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has ruled that a woman's decision to not wear a 'parda' (veil) does not amount to cruelty to her husband and thus cannot be a ground for divorce.
A two-judge bench comprising Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh and Justice Donadi Ramesh observed while hearing an appeal filed by a man whose suit for divorce was dismissed by the trial court. The HC granted divorce because husband and wife had been in desertion for more than 23 years.
The appellant (husband) had pressed two grounds for divorce: mental cruelty by saying the wife has been a free-willed person who would go out of her own to the market and other places and did not observe 'Parda'. The second ground was desertion. The two married on February 26, 1990, and their 'gauna' took place on December 4, 1992.
They became parents on December 2, 1995, when a male child was born to them. The couple resided together, intermittently. But they have not cohabited for more than 23 years and their only child is now a major.
The court allowed the man's appeal, saying, "The appellant may claim mental cruelty committed by the respondent to the extent she has deserted the appellant for very long. In any case, the respondent (wife) is found to have deserted the appellant and to have sustained that desertion for a long period, which has now exceeded 23 years."
"That wilful act of the respondent and her refusal (even now) to cohabit with the appellant to revive her matrimonial relationship appears to be an act of desertion committed of degree as may itself lead to the dissolution of her marriage. Here, we note, the respondent has not only refused cohabitation with the appellant, but she has also never made any effort to seek restitution of her conjugal rights."
