Suicide Threats - A ground for Divorce under Hindu Marriage Act

An interesting decision has come along recently by the Supreme Court of India in the case of Pankaj Mahajan v. Dimple @ Kajal Civil Appeal No. 8402 of 2011, case which was concerned with the issue of divorce. Interestingly, after this case, a person will be able to get a divorce decree if other spouse is threatening former of committing suicide. And, the same can be categorised under cruelty. In the instant case, wife-respondent was suffering from schizophrenia which husband-petitioner was not aware of. And, wife was suffering from that particular disease even before marriage, and she, after marriage, on several occasions had threatened her husband that she would commit suicide. Instead, she once tried to end her life but was eventually saved on the timely intervention of her husband. Husband left his parental home in the hope that his wife will abstain from becoming aggressive, but no fruitful result came out. He intimated the same to his mother-in-law and consequently filed a petitioner before the District Court of Amritsar which decreed in favour of husband. But, the order of the district court was reversed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court because of which the matter came before the Supreme Court under civil appeal.

Section 13, of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 can be read as – (Only Relevant Portion)

13. Divorce (1) Any marriage solemnised, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, may, on a petition presented by either the husband or the wife, be dissolved by a decree of divorce on the ground that the other party—

(i-a) has, after the solemnisation of the marriage, treated the petitioner with cruelty; or

Husband came to know about the mental condition of his wife only after one month of the marriage, and same was intimated to her father. Reports presented before the court made in clear that wife had undergone treatment but doctors have not certified her to be entirely mentally fit. Supreme Court refuted the reasoning of the High Court where high court had opined that mere mental illness cannot be considered as a sufficient ground for seeking divorce without appreciating the reports of the doctors. All the doctors who submitted their reports before the court called the diseased suffered by the respondent-wife to be incurable.

Reasoning of the Supreme Court while rejecting the opinion of the High Court can be read as follows –

“It is clear from the above that the respondent-wife was not of sound mind and she did not look after the household work rather she used to give threats to commit suicide. She did not even make food for the appellant-husband and he had to arrange the same from outside. Apart from this, she used to embarrass the appellant-husband before his landlord's family and because of her weird behaviour and threats to commit suicide, the appellant-husband was forced to leave the rented accommodation. Madan Lal, the landlord, PW-5 has also highlighted several instances when the respondent-wife used to quarrel with her husband and he had to face humiliation in front of others because of her behaviour. Inasmuch as PW-5 was living in the same house on the ground floor and the appellant-husband and the respondent-wife were living on the first floor, the said witness being the eye-witness to the cruelty meted out by the respondent-wife to the appellant-husband, as he had himself seen the behaviour and the activities of the respondent-wife including humiliation and threats of committing suicide, cannot be thrown out. Under those circumstances, the observation of the High Court that the statement of PW-5 is only hearsay is liable to be rejected.”

Supreme Court further stated that –

“It is well settled that giving repeated threats to commit suicide amounts to cruelty. When such a thing is repeated in the form of sign or gesture, no spouse can live peacefully. In the case on hand, the appellant-husband has placed adequate materials to show that the respondent-wife used to give repeated threats to commit suicide and once even tried to commit suicide by jumping from the terrace. Cruelty postulates a treatment of a spouse with such cruelty as to create reasonable apprehension in his mind that it would be harmful or injurious for him to live with the other party. The acts of the respondent-wife are of such quality or magnitude and consequence as to cause pain, agony and suffering to the appellant-husband which amounted to cruelty in matrimonial law.”

Divorce was consequently granted to the husband.