Case: Vinita Saxena Vs. Pankaj Pandit

from a Hindu wedlock is one of the principal aim of Hindu Marriage where sanskar of marriage is advised for progeny and offspring. This view was taken in AIR 1991 MP 205 . This Court in Digvijay Singh vs. Pratap Kumari, AIR 1970 SC 137 has held as follows "A party is impotent if his or her mental or physical condition makes consummation of the marriage a practical impossibility. The condition must be one, according to the statute, which existed at the time of the marriage and continued to be so until the institution of the proceedings. In order to entitle the appellant to obtain a decree of nullity, establish that his wife, the respondent, was impotent at the time of the marriage and continued to be so until the institution of the proceedings." 27. Lord Denning in Sheldon v. Sheldon (1966) 2 All ER 257, "The categories of cruelty are not disclosed. Each case may be different. We deal with the conduct of human being who are not generally similar. Among the human beings there is no limit to the kind of conduct which may constitute cruelty. New type of cruelty may crop up in any case depending upon the human behaviour, capability to tolerate the conduct complained of. Such is the wonderful realm of cruelty." 28. Spouses owe rights and duties each to the other and in their relationship they must act reasonably. In every case where cruelty exists it is possible to say that the spouse at fault has been unreasonable. The list of cruelty, therefore, should be breach of the duty to act reasonably, whether in omission or commission, causing injury to health. Such a list avoids imputing on intention where in fact none may exist. Further all such matters are foresight, desires, wishes, intention, motives, perception, obtuseness, persistence and indifference would remain relevant but merely as matter of evidence bearing upon the requirement to act reasonably or as aggravation of the matters charged. We can also take note of the fact that the respondent had filed a revision against the order of the trial Courts direction for setting up of a medical Board to examine the respondent. At the time of hearing, this Court directed the counsel for the respondent to ascertain from the respondent as to whether he is willing to submit himself for medical examination. However, the respondent refused to submit himself for medical examination and go before the medical Board. This would but confirm the contention of the appellant that the respondent is suffering from Paranoid Schizophrenia and that this Court can draw adverse inference in view of the conduct of the respondent. In the case of Smt. Uma Rani vs. Arjan Devi (supra), it has been held that unsoundness of mind may be held to be cruelty. In the case of Harbhajan Singh Monga vs. Amarjeet Kaur (Supra), it has been held that attempt to commit suicide by one spouse has been found to amount to cruelty to other. The observation made by this Court in the case of Shobha Rani vs. Madhukar Reddi, AIR 1988 SC 121 can be reproduced to appreciate the facts and circumstances of the case on hand. It reads as follows: "There has been a marked change in the life around us. In matrimonial duties and responsibilities in particular, there is a sea change. They are of varying degrees from house to house or person to person. Therefore, when a spouse makes complaint about the treatment of cruelty by the partner in life or relations, the Court should not search for standard in life. A set of facts stigmatized as cruelty in one case may not be so in another case. The cruelty alleged may largely depend upon the type of life the parties are accustomed to or their economic and social conditions. It may also depend upon their culture and human values to which they attach importance. The Judges and lawyers, therefore, should not import their own notions of life. Judges may not go in parallel with them. There may be a generation gap between the Judges and the parties. It would be better if the Judges keep aside their customs and manners. It would be also better if Judges less depend upon precedents." 29. Humane aspects which this Court should consider: The appellant was 24 years of age when she got married. The marriage lasted for four to five months only when she was compelled to leave the matrimonial home. The marriage between the parties was not consummated as the respondent was not in a position to fulfil the matrimonial obligation. The parties have been living separately since 1993. 13 years have passed they have never seen each other. Both the parties have crossed the point of no return. A workable solution is certainly not possible. Parties at this stage cannot reconcile themselves and live together forgetting their past as a bad dream. Parties have been fighting the legal battle from the year 1994. The situation between the parties would lead to a irrefutable conclusion that the appellant and the respondent can never ever stay as husband and wife and the wifes stay with the respondent is injurious to her health. The appellant has done her Ph.d. The respondent, according to the appellant, is not gainfully employed anywhere. As a matter of fact, after leaving his deposition incomplete during the trial, the respondent till date has neither appeared before the trial Court nor before the High Court. The facts and circumstances of the case as well as all aspects pertain to humanity and life would give sufficient cogent reasons for us to allow the appeal and relieve the appellant from shackles and chain of the respondent and let her live her own life, if nothing less but like a human being. In our view, the orders of the Courts below have resulted in grave miscarriage of justice to the appellant who has been constrained into living with a dead relationship for over 13 years.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 1

Explanation:
1[ds]22. In our view, the trial Court failed to appreciate the uncontroverted evidence of the appellant who had proved the case on every count. It has been established beyond doubt by the Medical doctors who had deposed as witnesses and brought the original medical record of the respondent that the respondent is suffering from mental disorder. Further ground for grant of divorce on the plea of mental insanity/mental disorder is different than cruelty. The appellant, in our view, had proved beyond doubt that the respondent suffered from mental disorder and that the appellant suffered cruelty by and at the behest of the respondent. Learned single Judge of the High Court failed to appreciate that in the absence of any evidence led by the respondent, the appellants evidence had to be relied upon and on the basis of the evidence, the decree for divorce was bound to be granted in favour of the appellant. The appellant had also given specific instances of cruelty which clearly establish that she had a reasonable apprehension that it will be harmful or injurious for her to live with the respondent.It is settled by catena of decisions that mental cruelty can cause even more serious injury than the physical harm and create in the mind of the injured appellant such apprehension as is contemplated in the Section. It is to be determined on whole facts of the case and the matrimonial relations between the spouses. To amount to cruelty, there must be such wilful treatment of the party which caused suffering in body or mind either as an actual fact or by way of apprehension in such a manner as to render the continued living together of spouses harmful or injurious having regard to the circumstances of the case. The word cruelty has not been defined and it has been used in relation to human conduct or human behaviour. It is the conduct in relation to or in respect of matrimonial duties and obligations. It is a course of conduct and one which is adversely affecting the other. The cruelty may be mental or physical, intentional or unintentional. There may be cases where the conduct complained of itself is bad enough and per se unlawful or illegal. Then the impact or the injurious effect on the other spouse need not be enquired into or considered. In such cases, the cruelty will be established if the conduct itself is proved or admitted. The cruelty alleged may largely depend upon the type of life the parties are accustomed to or their economic and social conditions, their culture and human values to which they attach importance.24. Judged by standard of modern civilization in the background of the cultural heritage and traditions of our society, a young and well educated woman like the appellant herein is not expected to endure the harassment in domestic life whether mental, physical, intentional or unintentional. Her sentiments have to be respected, her ambition and aspiration taken into account in making adjustment and her basic needs provided, though grievances arising from temperamentalIt must be proved that one partner in the marriage however mindless of the consequences has behaved in a way which the other spouse could not in the circumstances be called upon to endure, and that misconduct has caused injury to health or a reasonable apprehension of such injury. There are two sides to be considered in case of cruelty. From the appellants side, ought this appellant to be called on to endure the conduct? From the respondents side, was this conduct excusable? The court has then to decide whether the sum total of the reprehensible conduct was cruel. That depends on whether the cumulative conduct was sufficiently serious to say that from a reasonable persons point of view after a consideration of any excuse which the respondent might have in the circumstances, the conduct is such that the petitioner ought not be called upon to endure. As to what constitute the required mental cruelty for purposes of the said provision, will not depend upon the numerical count of such incidents or only on the continuous course of such conduct but really go by the intensity, gravity and stigmatic impact of it when meted out even once and the deleterious effect of it on the mental attitude, necessary for maintaining a conducive matrimonial home. If the taunts, complaints and reproaches are of ordinary nature only, the court perhaps need consider the further question as to whether their continuance or persistence over a period of time render, what normally would, otherwise, not be so serious an act to be so injurious and painful as to make the spouse charged with them genuinely and reasonably conclude that the maintenance of matrimonial home is not possible any longer.Spouses owe rights and duties each to the other and in their relationship they must act reasonably. In every case where cruelty exists it is possible to say that the spouse at fault has been unreasonable. The list of cruelty, therefore, should be breach of the duty to act reasonably, whether in omission or commission, causing injury to health. Such a list avoids imputing on intention where in fact none may exist. Further all such matters are foresight, desires, wishes, intention, motives, perception, obtuseness, persistence and indifference would remain relevant but merely as matter of evidence bearing upon the requirement to act reasonably or as aggravation of the matters charged. We can also take note of the fact that the respondent had filed a revision against the order of the trial Courts direction for setting up of a medical Board to examine the respondent. At the time of hearing, this Court directed the counsel for the respondent to ascertain from the respondent as to whether he is willing to submit himself for medical examination. However, the respondent refused to submit himself for medical examination and go before the medical Board. This would but confirm the contention of the appellant that the respondent is suffering from Paranoid Schizophrenia and that this Court can draw adverse inference in view of the conduct of the respondent. In the case of Smt. Uma Rani vs. Arjan Devi (supra), it has been held that unsoundness of mind may be held to beHumane aspects which this Court should consider: The appellant was 24 years of age when she got married. The marriage lasted for four to five months only when she was compelled to leave the matrimonial home. The marriage between the parties was not consummated as the respondent was not in a position to fulfil the matrimonial obligation. The parties have been living separately since 1993. 13 years have passed they have never seen each other. Both the parties have crossed the point of no return. A workable solution is certainly not possible. Parties at this stage cannot reconcile themselves and live together forgetting their past as a bad dream. Parties have been fighting the legal battle from the year 1994. The situation between the parties would lead to a irrefutable conclusion that the appellant and the respondent can never ever stay as husband and wife and the wifes stay with the respondent is injurious to her health. The appellant has done her Ph.d. The respondent, according to the appellant, is not gainfully employed anywhere. As a matter of fact, after leaving his deposition incomplete during the trial, the respondent till date has neither appeared before the trial Court nor before the High Court. The facts and circumstances of the case as well as all aspects pertain to humanity and life would give sufficient cogent reasons for us to allow the appeal and relieve the appellant from shackles and chain of the respondent and let her live her own life, if nothing less but like a human being. In our view, the orders of the Courts below have resulted in grave miscarriage of justice to the appellant who has been constrained into living with a dead relationship for over 13 years.