Wife Cannot Be Forced To Live In Matrimonial Home With Husband Keeping Another Lady With Him: H.P HC

Observing that wife cannot be forced to live in matrimonial home with husband keeping another lady with him, the Himachal Pradesh High Court allowed the Respondent (wife) to live separately.

"...respondent had justifiable ground to live separately as no wife can be forced to live in matrimonial home with husband keeping another lady with him," the Bench held.

With respect to ground of cruelty raised by the Appellant (husband), the Single Judge Bench of Justice Satyen Vaidya while relying on Dr. N.G Dastane Vs. Mrs. S. Dastane [(1975) 2 SCC 326], stated that onus of proof is on the person who alleges cruelty and standard of proof is that of preponderance of probabilities, and hence merely stating that wife had a quarrelsome attitude is not enough to discharge the standard of proof.

“Not only the husband had failed to plead and prove the acts of cruelty on the part of respondent, the defence of respondent justifying her conduct to live separately stood probabelised”, added the Bench.

Advocate Sohail Khan appeared for the Appellant, whereas Advocate Adarsh Sharma appeared for the Respondent.

In a nutshell, the Appellant and Respondent wife had been living separately since 1995. Accordingly, the Appellant filed a petition for dissolution of marriage in the Trial Court on grounds of cruelty, which was dismissed. Hence, present appeal.

Upon perusal of the facts, the Bench noted that stating in general terms during cross-examination that the wife had quarrelsome nature and even after several pleadings she did not return to the matrimonial home, are not enough cruelty on her part.

The Bench also observed that desertion as a ground for divorce was not specifically pleaded by the Appellant and the issue was wrongly framed by the Trial Court.

“The statements of husband and his father as PW-1 and PW-2 were in general terms without specifying any particular incident. The facts were narrated only in generalized terms, which cannot be held sufficient for discharging the burden of the husband as petitioner”, added the Bench.

Finally, observing that the submissions made by the Respondent that her husband was living with another lady in her matrimonial home, had substance, the High Court held that even if desertion as a ground for divorce had been raised, still she was justified in living separately.

Cause Title: Nain Sukh v. Seema Devi

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