CHANIDGARH: The Punjab and

high court has held that allegations of husband against wife “being overly attached to her parents” or “not knowing basic cooking” or “being rude to him” cannot be said to constitute cruelty.

According to the HC, “At the best, such allegations can be said to be trivial issues, which may and do arise between spouses in any marriage.”

A division bench comprising of justice Rajan Gupta and justice Manjari Nehru Kaul has passed these orders while dismissing a petition filed by a husband seeking divorce from his wife. He had approached the HC against April 20, 2015 order passed by Chandigarh local court dismissing his plea to divorce his wife.

According to the husband, right from the beginning of their marriage the wife's behavior was extremely cruel and rude towards him and his family. It was claimed that she did not even know basic cooking and many a times, he had to leave for his work without even taking his breakfast. It was also alleged that the wife was very attached to her parents and did not like anybody coming to their house except her own parents. According to the husband, on several occasions she had filed complaints against him before the women cell but matters were sorted out after a compromise. He said that in April 2009, she left his house for which he had even filed a complaint to the police. He sought dissolution of his marriage with his wife as he had been subjected to both mental and physical cruelty, making it impossible for him to live with her. He also made the allegations of adultery on his wife.

The couple was married on May 11, 2004 in

of

. After marriage they lived together in Chandigarh and had a daughter was in September 2008.

Responding to the petition, the wife denied all the allegations and submitted before HC that it was her husband, who had not stood by the commitments made before the court as well as other authorities and had not even turned up to take her back to the matrimonial home from her parental house after a compromise was arrived at, between them.

She also alleged that her husband was unhappy with the dowry which had been given to her at the time of their marriage for which she was not only physically assaulted by the husband and his family but was also made to starve many a times. It was also stated that after their daughter was born, her husband and his family's behaviour had worsened towards her. Husband did not even come to see the baby girl after her birth and had chosen to leave the child and the respondent-wife with her parents.

Hearing both the parties, HC dismissed husband’s plea observing, “The allegations of the appellant-husband of the respondent-wife being overly attached to her parents or not knowing basic cooking or being rude to him cannot be said to constitute cruelty."