The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday ruled that compelling a wife to discontinue her studies amounts to mental cruelty which constitutes a ground for divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act. .The Bench of Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Gajendra Singh granted divorce to a woman (appellant) whose husband and in-laws had prevented her from continuing education after Class XII. .The Court observed that education has been recognized by the apex court as a facet of life and is considered an integral part of right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, meaning thereby that the access to education is essential for living a life with dignity. “Compelling the wife to discontinue her studies or creating such an atmosphere that she is put in a position not to continue her studies is equivalent to destroy her dreams in the beginning of their marital life and forcing her to live with a person who is neither educated nor eager to improve himself certainly amounts to mental cruelty and we hold that it constitutes a ground of divorce under section 13(1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955,” it said..Compelling the wife to discontinue her studies, forcing her to live with a person who is neither educated nor eager to improve amounts to cruelty.Madhya Pradesh High Court.The Court was hearing the wife’s appeal challenging the rejection of her divorce plea and that grant of a decree of restitution of conjugal rights in favour of her estranged husband.In the present case, the couple married in 2015. The wife had cleared Class XII at that time and desired to continue studies. Her in-laws allegedly told her that she cannot continue studies, and would harass her over dowry. However, the husband claimed that there was no opposition to her studies and in fact, necessary expenses were paid to allow her to pursue the BSc course. The allegations of dowry demand and domestic violence were also denied..In 2020, the Family Court ruled in favour of the husband and recorded a finding that the wife had separated from her husband without reasonable excuse. The wife then moved the High Court.However, the High Court found that the husband, who is uneducated, himself had admitted that he did not bear the expenses of her studies. .It also took note of a witness statement revealing that the wife had faced unwelcoming behaviour of her husband and he had failed to maintain her privacy during a trip.“It is also a fact that during the period of 10 years from the solemnization of marriage on 01.05.2015 petitioner and respondent were together only for a period of 3 days in the month of July, 2016 and that experience of the wife was a nightmare and thereafter they never came in the company of each other,” the Court further found..Differing with the findings of the trial court, the High Court added,“This is not a case where she was taking advantage of her own fault but this is a case where wife was putting to sacrifice her dreams, career in the name of marital obligations.”Accordingly, the Court set aside the Family Court’s findings and concluded that the wife had been subjected to mental cruelty and thus had a reasonable excuse to live separately. The Court added that it was also a case of irretrievable breakdown of marriage as the couple have been living separately since July 2016 with no possibility of a reunion.Accordingly, the Court allowed the appeals filed by the wife, dissolved the marriage and set aside the decree of restitution of conjugal rights. .Advocate Chandrakant Verma represented the wife.Advocate Aditya Verma represented the husband..[Read Judgment]
