2020 (2) AKR 455 ::AIROnline 2020 Kar 266 ::(2020) 3 KCCR 2365 (Kar)

Karnataka High Court

Hon'ble Judge(s): P. B. Bajanthri, Nataraj Rangaswamy , JJ

Hindu Marriage Act (25 of 1955) , S.13(1)(ia)— Divorce - Involvement of husband in criminal activities causing severe mental trauma to wife - Amounts to mental cruelty - Wife unwilling to accept him as husband - Divorce granted. If criminal case is registered against the husband, it is not something that could be ignored, but stirs the conscience of any law abiding citizen. If a man who has just entered wedlock indulges in such a heinous crime unmindful of the consequences that will turn around on the family, it could definitely cause severe mental trauma to the wife. The wife would have had her own impressions about her husband and if the husband indulges in such criminal activities, this amounts to a mental cruelty and since cruelty is a state of mind, if the wife is unwilling to accept him as a husband, in the fitness of things, it is proper that the Court would come to the rescue of two young people and set them free by a decree of divorce.(Para 17)