Kerala HC’s view on if husband can legally divorce wife for not cooking
This ruling was delivered on a petition filed by a husband seeking to end his marriage on grounds of cruelty.
A recent verdict from the Kerala High Court has assured that a wife not knowing how to cook does not qualify as a form of cruelty and cannot be grounds for divorce. This ruling was delivered on a petition filed by a husband seeking to end his marriage on grounds of cruelty.
The Case and Its Details
The couple in question wed on May 7, 2012, and lived together in Abu Dhabi, UAE. According to the husband, they have been living separately for the past decade, and his marriage is both “practically and emotionally dead.” He stated that there was no chance of reconciliation with his wife.
A part of the husband’s argument put forth was his wife’s alleged treatment of him. He maintained that she had insulted and mistreated him in front of his relatives and distanced herself from him. He further alleged that his wife had reached out to his employer with derogatory statements intending to get him terminated from his job.
“Another ground of cruelty urged by the appellant is that the respondent did not know how to cook and so she did not prepare food for him. That also cannot be termed as cruelty sufficient enough to dissolve a legal marriage,” the division bench pointed out.
The Wife’s Response and The Court’s Verdict
In response to the cruel treatment claims and other charges made by the husband, the wife denied all allegations. She stated that her reaching out to her husband’s employer was only an attempt to get intervention for the sake of rescuing their troubled marriage.
The Kerala High Court, after careful consideration of the facts presented, dismissed the divorce petition. The court concluded that one party cannot unilaterally decide to end a marriage without sufficient grounds justifying a divorce.
“So legally, one party cannot unilaterally decide to walk out of a marriage, when sufficient grounds are not there justifying a divorce,” the court said while dismissing the petition seeking divorce on ‘cruelty grounds’.
The court’s ruling significantly conveyed that the inability of the wife to cook cannot be seen as a form of cruelty and is not a sufficient cause to dissolve a legal marriage.
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