The Delhi High Court observed that branding a husband as illegitimate and making offensive remarks about his mother amounts to mental cruelty, which can constitute valid grounds for divorce.
A Division Bench, consisting of Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar, affirmed the family court’s order granting divorce to the husband.
The wife had challenged the family court’s decision, contending that her allegations of cruelty were overlooked and that the divorce in favor of her husband was unjustified.
The appellant contended that the husband had humiliated her with caste-based comments, compelled her to manage household chores despite her professional commitments, and entangled her in multiple baseless legal cases.
The High Court, however, observed that the wife’s claims of counter-cruelty do not negate her own proven instances of cruelty.
“Two wrongs do not make a right. The appellant’s established acts of cruelty — including verbal abuse, physical aggression, and social isolation — are serious and sufficient on their own to justify the dissolution of the marriage,” the Court remarked.
The Court observed that the appellant had sent the respondent “obscene, derogatory, and scandalous” messages that challenged his legitimacy and contained offensive remarks about his mother.
““Specific messages dated 09.05.2011, 15.05.2011, and 27.06.2011, which included terms such as “bastard”, “son of a bitch,” and suggestions that his mother should “earn through prostitution”, are by themselves sufficient to constitute mental cruelty of the gravest kind,” it observed
The Court further remarked, “The words and messages in this case are far from harmless. The law acknowledges that mental cruelty can arise from sustained and deliberate verbal abuse and conduct that demeans a spouse, damaging their reputation and self-respect. The text messages at issue included allegations of illegitimacy, offensive remarks aimed at the respondent’s mother, and other derogatory comments—a pattern that the Family Court correctly found to have caused severe mental distress to the respondent.”
Accordingly, the Court dismissed the wife’s appeal and upheld the divorce decree.
