Spouses’ refusal to accommodate is mutual cruelty: SC

THE TOP COURT DISSOLVED THE MARRIAGE OF A COUPLE WHO HAVE LIVED SEPARATELY SINCE 2001

- Utkarsh Anand

A couple's inability to accommodate each other because of fundamentally different approaches to marriage can itself amount to cruelty for both spouses and justify dissolution of the marital bond, the Supreme Court has ruled, underscoring that courts are not meant to adjudicate whose worldview within a marriage is "right" or "wrong".

A bench of justices Manmohan and Joymalya Bagchi held that when spouses hold strongly entrenched views and refuse to adjust to each other over a prolonged period, such conduct causes mutual cruelty and renders the marriage unworkable.