In a very unusual case, a family court recently granted divorce to a man accepting his allegation that his wife was hallucinating and used to see ghosts and goddesses in their house. The court considered this as a ground amounting to mental cruelty to the husband and granted him divorce.

The couple was married for three months before the woman moved out of the house and filed a first information report (FIR) against her husband and his family members alleging harassment under various sections of the Domestic Violence Act. She also demanded a monthly maintenance amount from the husband. Tired of all her allegations, the husband moved the family court seeking divorce.

In his petition, the husband alleged that the woman used to hallucinate. She had told him that she could see ghosts in their house. She said she even saw a Goddess who told her to jump off from the gallery so that her matrimonial life would be cordial, the petition mentioned.

The petition also alleged that the “woman resided with him only for three months but she made his life hell. She treated him in a cruel manner, harassed him physically as well as mentally and thereafter left the matrimonial home and thus deserted him.”

It was also alleged that when a trip to Goa was planned after their marriage, the woman refused to go. She used to avoid household work and kept reading religious and holy books. She refused to help his mother at her work. She used to lock her bedroom and stay inside. She quarrelled with his parents when they tried to speak to her.

After leaving her matrimonial house, the woman filed several complaints against her husband and his family members which are still pending before the competent courts.

The woman did not respond to the notice issued by the family court. Thus, the court passed an ex-parte order. The court granted divorce to the husband under Section 13 (1) (ia) and (ib) of the Hindu Marriage Act.