CRUELTY AGAINST HUSBAND

INTRODUCTION
Gender equality in terms of gender discrimination is
not worth it if it makes the fundamental right of
people in our society vulnerable. Cruelty against the
husband is one such incident where fundamental
right and ultimate law of the land of the most
disciplined and diverse country like India where the
heart and soul of democracy lie in the constitution
becomes necessarily important to implement laws in
the right direction.
The most important factor for deciding the
development of a country is to understand gender
equality in terms of criminal justice as well. In
Shobha Rani v Madhukar Reddi1, the wife alleged
that the husband and his parents demanded dowry.
In its ruling, the court emphasized that “cruelty” can

1
Shobha Rani v Madhukar Reddi 1988 AIR 121, 1988 SCR
(1)1010
have no fixed definition. Thus, whether it is against
the husband or the wife, cruelty amount to a
criminal act against the state with no discrimination.
If we look at the current position of laws related to
cruelty in marriage, we can see we have ‘Section
498-A’ of the ‘IPC’ the wife and her parental family
can charge any or all of the husband’s family of
physical or mental cruelty but the genuineness of
the case has to be looked into by the court as this
section is cognizable, non-compoundable and non-
bailable.
However, apart from the physical abuse, it's even
more important to understand the mental aspect of
harassment whether it is this honesty or whether it
is related to torches any kind of mental sickness that
the husband faces from another person even though
she belongs to be his wife amongst to quality and
the amounts to criminal activity.

LAWS RELATED TO THIS ISSUE

Certain conditions that amount to cruelty are as
follows:
 Misuse of Dowry Laws, Domestic Violence
Act, and ‘Sec: 498-A’ of IPC by wife
against husband and in-laws of a husband
through lodging false complaints
 Desertion by the wife means the wife
deliberately intends for separation and to
bring cohabitation permanently to an end.
 Adultery by the wife means the wife having
a sexual relationship with some other person
during the lifetime of marriage and there
must be strict laws to punish the wife who
has committed adultery.
 Wife opting out of the second marriage
without applying for the divorce
proceedings.
 Threatening to leave the husband’s home
and threat to commit suicide on the wife.
  Cruel behavior of wife where wife tearing
the shirt of the husband, refusing to cook
food properly or on time, and breaking the
mangalsutra in the presence of the husband’s
relatives.
 Accusing and abusing the husband by any
way of insulting in any presence of in-laws
or in some cases where wife abuses husband
in front of office staff members.
 A wife refuses to have sex with her husband
without any sufficient reasons which can be
considered a ground of cruelty and the
husband can file a divorce petition.
 Lowering the reputation of the husband by
using derogatory words in presence of
family members and elders.

Certain cases that help us in understanding the issue

well or as follows :
  Deepalakshmi Saehia Zingade v/s Sachi
Rameshrao Zingade 2
In this case, the petitioner/wife filed a false case
against her husband on the ground of ‘Husband
Having Girl Friend’ which is proved as false in a
court of law so it can be considered as cruelty
against the husband.
 Darshana vs Alok 3, In this case, we could
see that the husband had filed proceedings
for granting divorce on the grounds of
cruelty alleging that the wife had initiated
false prosecution against the husband and
also the family members under Section 498-
A of the Indian Penal Code.

2
Mrs. Deepalakshmi Saehia Zingade v/s Sachi Rameshrao
Zingade [2](AIR 2010 Bom 16)

3
Mrs. Darshana W/O Alok Borkar vs Alok S/O Namdeo
Borkar on 6 April 2021[3]
 CONCLUSION
Any kind of harassment that goes to abusing or
physical probability cannot be accepted even though
it's related to marriage That seems a lot more
personal but a criminal act cannot state itself to be
up to private because somehow disturb the whole
society.

By-SAKSHI PRIYA(2nd year)

Faculty Of Legal Studies and Research

Sai Nath University, Ranchi