Chhattisgarh HC rejects divorce plea over wife calling husband dark, fat
The Chhattisgarh High Court has dismissed a man’s appeal seeking divorce from his wife, holding that his allegations, including that she called him dark-complexioned and fat, were not enough to grant a divorce. The court also declined to interfere with a family court order that had rejected his plea and allowed the wife’s application for the return of her streedhan, or gifts and assets given by her parents.
A division bench of Justice Parth Prateem Sahu and Justice Sachin Singh Rajput upheld the August 28, 2024 judgment of the Family Court in Janjgir in the case filed by Aksh Ghosh, 28, of Janjgir-Champa district against his wife Pooja Seet, 25, of Raigarh district. The high court had reserved its order on June 25 and pronounced it on September 18.
According to the high court order, the couple got married on March 7, 2019, in a village in Raigarh district, and the woman lived with her husband and his family for about two to three months after the marriage. The husband alleged that during this period, she treated him with hostility, threatened to implicate him in false cases and frequently went to her parental home. He also alleged that she went to Rajasthan to attend a relative’s marriage without his consent and returned after about 25 days. He said she subsequently suffered a miscarriage of twins and that her mother then took her to Raigarh, after which she refused to return despite his repeated efforts.
In her written statement, the woman denied the allegations except the fact of marriage. She alleged that her husband was having an illicit relationship with another woman and that after she came to know about it, he started consuming alcohol. She further alleged that he abused her and did not properly take care of her, including by failing to provide adequate medical treatment during her pregnancy. She said her mother took her to a hospital in Raigarh when she fell ill and that, after her recovery, she repeatedly requested her husband and his family members to take her back, but they did not do so. Her mother later submitted a complaint to the Superintendent of Police, Raigarh, on February 24, 2020, and the woman also initiated proceedings under the Domestic Violence Act before the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Raigarh.
The high court, after examining the evidence, held that the husband had failed to establish cruelty and desertion on the part of his wife. “Though the appellant/husband has made several allegations against the respondent/wife yet none of them have been substantiated by leading any cogent evidence,” the court said. “The man has alleged that his wife used to brand him as being a black complexioned or fatty-shaped but they cannot be taken to be sufficient grounds for granting a decree of divorce to him,” it said.
The court said the husband had failed to establish that his wife was living with her parents without reasonable cause and had also failed to prove the required intention to desert on her part. It held that the family court had properly appreciated the evidence while rejecting the plea for dissolution of marriage and allowing the wife’s claim for the return of her streedhan within one month. The appeal was dismissed without costs. - EndsWith PTI inputs
