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CHANDIGARH: Think twice before you taunt your wife with 'kali kaluti' next time. The Punjab and Haryana high court has allowed a woman from Mahendergarh in Haryana to divorce her husband on the ground of maltreatment and cruelty. The court accepted her plea that she was compelled to stay away from her husband because he would often taunt her about her skin colour in front of other people for not preparing food for him.

"Wife has been able to establish that she was maltreated and treated shabbily as a result of which she was compelled to stay away from the matrimonial home," the court observed in its order given recently. "The evidence produced on record is held to be good enough to arrive at a conclusion that the appellant was treated with mental and physical cruelty."

A division bench of Justice M M S Bedi and Justice Gurvinder Singh Gill passed the orders allowing the divorce while setting aside the verdict of the family court in Mahendergarh, which had dismissed the wife's plea.

‘In-laws of appellant had threatened 2nd marriage’

The acts of cruelty have been proved on record by producing her affidavit. When a female has been compelled to leave her matrimonial home to stay with her parents, a legal obligation/ appreciation of evidence arises to find out the circumstances under which she is compelled to leave the matrimonial home... In the present case, the acts of cruelty have been established by parents of the wife,” the court observed.

The woman’s counsel, J P Sharma, argued that the husband had been maltreating her from the beginning of the marriage. “Appellant was insulted by calling her ‘kali kaluti’ and was being taunted for not preparing the food. In November 2012, she had to return to her parents’ house. The father of the appellant had asked the husband and his family members to reconcile the matter but they threatened to get a second marriage of their son solemnized,” Sharma had argued.

