Letter Demanding Divorce Amounts to Mental Cruelty
- The Delhi High Court in the matter of Gurleen Kaur Vs Lakhbir Singh declared that a single letter written by the wife to the husband demanding divorce and expressing a desire to marry her friend amounts to mental cruelty to the husband entitling him for divorce.
- The wife had defended that the husband had gone to the USA for service and he did not send her money or flight tickets for her travel to the USA. The wife claimed that she wrote the said letter to the husband out of frustration and as a threat with the sole intention to shake the husband out of indifference and irresponsible behavior towards her. The wife claimed that she had made out a fictitious story that one of her friends is willing to marry her and accept her daughter’s responsibility. The wife hoped that after receiving the letter, her husband would come to his senses, and he would make efforts to save his marriage and start to live with her.
- The trial court concluded that the wife was well-educated and gainfully employed. The wife should have restrained herself from writing such a threatening letter to her husband, as the said letter had put an end to all the possibilities of reconciliation between the couple.
- In the appeal, the wife had claimed that her act of writing letter to her husband was a stray isolated incident and the trial court was wrong in passing a decree of divorce against her on the basis of single letter. The wife claimed that the marriage had reached rocky shores due to the husband not sending her air tickets or money for her and their daughter to travel to the USA.
- The husband claimed that he is entitled to divorce as one stray incident of grievous/inexcusable nature has caused him severe mental cruelty and he is entitled for divorce in accordance with guidelines laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter of Gurbax Singh V/s Harminder Kaur.
- The Delhi High Court concluded that after writing the letter, the wife did not make any effort to explain to the husband that she had written the letter to him out of sheer frustration to shake him to reunite with her, and the husband suffered for 4 to 5 years due to single act of cruelty. The court concluded that the husband was residing in a foreign country and he received wife’s letter demanding divorce and her decision to dissolve marriage and marry another man had caused him severe pain. The fact of rejection, accompanied by emotional infidelity by the wife resulted in breaking the husband’s spirit. The wife’s claim that she has found someone else to replace the husband amounts to severe agony to the husband and he was entitled to divorce due to single incident of cruelty on the part of the wife.
Seeking expert legal guidance?- Contact The Divorce Law Firm today.
