Insulting husband, alleging adultery amounts to cruelty, rules Bombay HC

Refusal to have a physical relationship and making allegations of extra-marital relations is also cruelty by the wife

- Karuna Nidhi

The refusal by a woman to have a physical relationship with her husband and accusing him of having an extramarital affair amounts to cruelty towards the man, the Bombay high court has said while refusing relief to a woman challenging a family court's divorce order.

A bench of justice Revati Mohite-Dete and Neela Gokhale on Thursday said that the woman's behaviour, of insulting the husband in front of his friends and ill-treating his employees, will cause mental agony to him and can be construed as “cruelty” against the husband.