Factual Matrix 

In the case of Ravindra Pratap Yadav v Asha Devi a husband’s appeal against a family court’s decision to deny his request for divorce under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act. He said that his wife’s attitude towards him had radically changed after they got married and that she was refusing to live with him. The wife willingly started living separately after spending some time at her parents’ house, according to the husband, even though they had previously shared a roof.

After six months of marriage, she resisted her husband’s efforts to persuade her to fulfil her marital duties by returning to the matrimonial house. The couple mutually divorced in July 1994 through a Panchayat convened in the hamlet after the husband gave the wife 22,000 Rupees in lifelong alimony. The husband then requested a divorce on the grounds of mental abuse and prolonged abandonment after the wife remarried. Despite having received proper service through publication, she failed to show up in court. The husband’s argument was rejected by the family court, which continued with the case ex-parte and noted that there were no grounds for cruelty to grant the divorce.

Analysis of Court Order 

The Allahabad High Court recognised that it constitutes mental cruelty when a spouse forgoes having sex with their partner for a protracted period without a good reason, as stated by Justices Suneet Kumar and Rajendra Kumar-IV.The bench went on to say that, while dissolving a couple’s marriage on the grounds of mental cruelty, there is no acceptable scenario in which a spouse can be forced to resume life with the consort. Nothing is gained by attempting to keep the parties bound to a marriage indefinitely.

After reviewing the facts, the High Court commented that the family court’s dismissal of the husband’s complaint demonstrated a hyper-technical approach. It is clear from the record that the couple has been living apart for a while. According to the plaintiff-appellant, the defendant-respondent had no respect for the marriage and refused to pay any marital debt. Their marriage has been destroyed. The Court reversed the decision of the family court and issued a divorce decree to the applicant.