While hearing the divorce case between husband and wife, Allahabad High Court has commented that if the wife is addicted to alcohol then it is not cruelty against the husband. The High Court has said that if the wife does not behave inappropriately with the husband in a drunken state then it cannot be considered cruelty. However, the High Court has allowed the husband and wife to divorce because they have been living separately for a long time and the decision has been given on the basis of abandonment.
The husband had applied for divorce to separate from his wife. An appeal was made by the husband in the court that his wife drinks alcohol and spends time with her friends without informing. The husband had called it cruelty while the High Court commented that if the wife is addicted to alcohol and has not behaved inappropriately then it will not be considered cruelty. At the same time, no such evidence was presented in the High Court by the husband which proves that the wife has done anything wrong with him in a drunken state.
Accused of cruelty
In the appeal filed in the court, the husband had accused his wife of being cruel to him and leaving him. Therefore, he wants a divorce. The entire case was heard by a division bench of Justice Vivek Chaudhary and Justice Prakash Shukla. During the hearing, the court also said that cruelty and abandonment are very different. The husband had also accused his wife of talking to a man.
Abandonment is similar to the situation
On the matter of talking to a male friend, the High Court said that there is no record to prove that the calls received by the wife are from a male friend due to which the husband was subjected to cruelty. However, the court said that both have been living separately since one year of marriage, which would be considered as abandonment under the Hindu Marriage Act. The wife has no involvement in the case, which makes it clear that she is not going to return. In such circumstances, both were allowed divorce.