With changing dynamics in a marriage, mere annoyance and normal disagreements do not constitute mental cruelty or ground for divorce, the Bombay High Court has said, refusing to grant divorce to a man who claimed his wife quarrelled with him and his mother.
Cruelty should be such that it is not reasonably expected to live together, it added.
The court also said that cruelty in a marriage cannot be determined by a few isolated instances and the entire married life should be assessed as a whole. Mere annoyance or irritation by one spouse may not constitute cruelty, the court said.
The woman claimed that her husband and his family used to ill-treat her for not being able to conceive. The HC dismissed a petition filed by a 44-year-old man challenging a family court order refusing to grant him divorce on the grounds of cruelty and also ordering him to pay maintenance of ₹5,000 per month to his wife.
