Mumbai: The Bombay High Court recently refused to grant divorce to a man who alleged his second wife is suffering from mental disorder and has been cruel to him on the grounds that he has failed to prove his allegations.
A Division Bench comprising Justices Abhay Oka and Anuja Prabhudessai was hearing an appeal filed in 2008 after it was rejected by the family court the same year. The applicant, a divorced man with a son aged 15 and daughter aged eight, said he married an air hostess in July 1994 as per the Special Marriage Act. In 2000, he filed for divorce claiming he has been treated cruelly by his wife since the wedding.
The application said the wife has been “incurably of unsound mind, or has been suffering continuously or intermittently from mental disorder of such a kind and to such an extent that he cannot reasonably be expected to live with the her”, as per the Act. It said he had taken her to a psychiatrist for treatment.
The court said the husband hasn’t examined the doctor in court, and the statement issued by the latter hasn’t been admitted as evidence.
The bench recorded, “The doctor was the best witness to depose in support of the plea of the husband that the wife was intermittently suffering from mental disorder. However, he had made no efforts to examine the said witness. Hence the ground for divorce under the Act has not been proved.”
The husband had mentioned an incident in which the wife had threatened to kill herself, which was witnessed by the building watchman. He also said she had abused his children over phone. The court noted that neither the watchman not the children had been examined as witnesses.
The court held, “It is true that the marriage between the parties seem to have irretrievably broken down. However, unless one of the grounds for dissolution of marriage is set out, the court is powerless to pass a decree of divorce.”
