Demand of Privacy by a Spouse is Not a Valid Ground for Divorce
- The Hon’ble Delhi High Court rejected an appeal filed by the husband in a matrimonial dispute i.e. Miniappa Kanda Swami V/s M Indira, observing that “Right to Privacy is a fundamental right and members of a married woman’s matrimonial home are duty bound to provide her privacy”
- The wife had claimed that her husbands lived with eight members of his family in three bedrooms and she had no privacy, hence she had demanded separate residence for the sole purpose of privacy. The husband had shifted the wife along with their two children into a separate flat and he lived with her for 2-3 days. Thereafter the husband abandoned the wife and their children never to return.
- The question before the Hon’ble Court was if the wife’s demand of separate residence for privacy amounted to cruelty. The Hon’ble Court concluded that cruelty can be physical or mental or both and while deciding a case overall conduct of the spouse has to be taken into consideration and stray demand of separate residence for privacy does not amount to cruelty. The Hon’ble Court upheld that cruelty had to be assessed by observing that there has to be continuous unprovoked behaviour of the spouse that causes embarrassment, anguish and humiliation to the opposite spouse and it makes living together unbearable. The cruel conduct must be of such a nature that the spouse could not be reasonably asked to live together.
- The Hon’ble Court upheld that the husband lived with eight members of his family in three rooms, and the wife’s demand for separate residence for privacy is not unreasonable. A newly married woman may sensibly expect privacy. The Hon’ble Court observed that the right to privacy is a fundamental right and the husband and his family are duty-bound to provide privacy to a newly married woman. Except for the demand of separate residence for privacy, no other allegation was proved against the wife and the Hon’ble Court concluded that the husband can not be allowed to take advantage of his own wrongs.
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