Visiting Parent’s House Does Not Amount to Cruelty or Desertion - Allahabad HC

CASE: Mohit Preet Kapoor v Sumit Kapoor

COURT: A division bench of Justices Sunita Agarwal and Krishan Pahal of the Allahabad High Court 

In a recent ruling, the Allahabad High Court ruled that a wife visiting her parents' home without her husband's permission would not constitute cruelty or desertion.

The husband filed for divorce when his wife left their home while pregnant and refused to return while she was in the early stages of her pregnancy. The husband alleged desertion on the wife's part. The wife was also alleged to have refused to do household chores, misbehaved with the husband's family members, and went to her paternal home without informing her husband.

On studying the case, the HC observed that the conduct of the wife could not be held as desertion since her parents' home was 400 meters away, and she was pregnant. The court also rejected the trial court's conclusion that the acts of the wife amount to cruelty. Moreover, the bench found that the husband could not prove any of these acts.

With these observations, the bench set aside the order of the family court granting divorce on grounds of desertion and cruelty.