There was no specific legislation in India to govern matrimonial and divorce matters during pre-independence period. The ‘Hindu Marriage Act’ was enacted which came into force on 18 May 1955 which codified law relating to marriage among Hindus. The legal conception of cruelty and the kind of degree of cruelty necessary to amount to a matrimonial offence has not been defined by any Statute of the Indian legislature relating to marriage and divorce. Indian Judiciary has done a mammoth task by determining the instances of ‘physical’ and ‘mental’ cruelty and has tried to fill in gaps by a liberal and constructive interpretation of the existing legal provisions. In fact, this has magically turned out in the process of balancing the individual liberties with social interest. These developments through judicial interpretation can be witnessed from the following discussion.  Cruelty as a Ground of Divorce under Hindu Marria ....