Man Can Seek Divorce If Wife Forces Him To Stay Away From Parents: Calcutta HC

The High Court of Calcutta has recently ruled that a husband has the right to file for divorce on grounds of mental cruelty if his wife tried to compel him to separate from his parents without justifiable reason.

The court added that it was the “pious obligation of the son to live and maintain the parents”, adding a son living with his parents was “absolutely normal in Indian culture and ethos”.

Further, stating this, the division bench of justices Soumen Sen & Uday Kumar on March 31 turned down a woman’s plea challenging a family court’s decision to grant her husband divorce.

The case dates back to the year 2009, when a family court in West Midnapore granted Prashant Kumar Mandal divorce from his wife, Jharna, on grounds of cruelty.

The high court bench heard the wife’s plea, challenging this order. The family court based its order on the premise that since their 2001 marriage, Jharna publicly insulted Prashant, calling him “unemployed” and a “coward”. He was then teaching part-time in schools and giving private tuition, and his income was insufficient to support the family.

Further, he would occasionally ask Jharna who was earning ₹1,400 a month to help out with the finances. Even as Prashant was in the process of joining a government job, Jharna filed a criminal case against him and his parents on allegations of “torture”, stopping him from getting the job.