Wife doubting her husband for coming home late frequently is not cruelty: Chhattisgarh High Court

If a husband comes home late at night frequently and wife ventilates her doubts on whether he is having some affair, the same cannot be termed cruelty, held the Chhattisgarh High Court recently [Rainpreet Kaur vs Kulbir Chhabra]..A division bench of Justices Goutam Bhaduri and Deepak Kumar Tiwari observed that such conduct by the wife in such circumstances was 'normal human behaviour.'."It is a normal human behaviour and obvious that when a husband comes late at night frequently, some doubt may come in the mind of the wife and if such doubt is ventilated, the same cannot be stated to be cruelty," the Court held in its October 16 judgment..The Court was dealing with a case where the husband was said have often come home late at night frequently. At times, he did not come home at all, the Court was told. The husband contended that he was involved in political activities because of which he was late to reach home. The husband contended that his wife was being cruel by doubting his character.A family court had earlier allowed the husband's plea for divorce, which was then challenged by the wife before the High Court. The High Court opined that the wife would not have had her doubts if the husband's conduct was different or explained properly. "Because of the fact that by the activities doubts had been created, it cannot be stated that the allegations attributed to the husband were completely wrong but the facts would reveal that the allegations were made on account of the abnormal unexplained behaviour of the husband," the bench said..The bench also noted that the husband had counter-doubted his wife on the ground the she had been talking to friends of her brother. The Court added that both spouses should have trust in each other. "In a relation between a husband and wife, the minimum standard of belief on each other should be maintained and it is not expected that the wife would talk to the outsiders according to the wish and will of the husband unless something otherwise comes to fore so as to assassinate the character of the wife," the Court said.With these observations, it set aside the 2017 judgment of the family court which had granted the divorce to the husband..Advocates Sumesh Bajaj and Rishabh Bajaj appeared for the wife. Advocates Anup Majumdar and Saket Pandey represented the husband..[Read Judgment]