Abusing wife in filthy language in front of her students amounts to mental cruelty: Chhattisgarh High Court

Husband abusing wife, a teacher, in filthy language in front of her students would not only tarnish her image in the society but also amount to mental cruelty under the Hindu Marriage Act, the Chhattisgarh High Court recently held..A division bench of Justices Goutam Bhaduri and Deepak Kumar Tiwari, therefore, allowed a plea by a woman seeking divorce from her husband on the ground of cruelty. "While the wife was working and used to sometimes come home late, the allegations that the husband used to assassinate the character of the wife and the allegations that when the wife started teaching the students in tuition at her home, the husband used to speak filthy abuses about character of wife, would naturally tarnish the image of the wife before the society specially before the students, and at their tender age they may loose respect for teacher," the bench observed. The Court was hearing an appeal filed by the woman challenging a November 2021 judgment by a Family Court in Raipur which had dismissed her plea for divorce. The Court noted that the wife wasn't initially accepted by her in-laws since it was a love marriage.The woman contended that her husband was jobless and so she took up a teaching job at a school to meet the family expenses. She further stated that due to work load, she would sometimes come home late. Her husband did not like the fact that she was working and doubted her character and often accused her of having an illicit relationship with some male colleagues. .She, therefore, left her school job but started taking tuitions at her home. However, when male students attended the home tuitions, the husband used to abuse her in filthy language and assassinate her character."The frequency of these activities got aggravated day by day and eventually the students who were coming for tuition also stopped to come, owing to that the wife was unable to meet out her expenses for the financial bottlenecking," the bench noted. She was kicked out of the matrimonial house on April 9, 2015 by the husband and he hardly made any attempt to bring her and their daughter back..The bench noted that the husband failed to bring any evidence on record to counter the wife's contentions."The analysis of the statements (of wife and her father) would show that if the husband has stopped working and if the wife forced to join some service to cater their need for survival, in the eventuality of such objection by the husband naturally it would lead to financial bottle-necking which may affect the life and standard of living of the parties. There is no evidence that the husband was working. Therefore, the sole testimony of wife that the husband was not working and when the wife wanted to work, it was objected, appears to be more acceptable," the Court opined.It, therefore, concluded that the wife was able to prove that she was subjected to mental and physical cruelty by the husband who stopped her from going to the job and used to confine her to the house as he was doubting her character..Advocates Anil Pillai and Anupam Dubey appeared for the wife. Advocate Vivek Kumar Agrawal represented the husband.