Wife's Unexplained Stays at Maternal Home, Pressure on Only Son to Live Separately Are Cruelty: Madras High Court

The parties married in June 2019 (para 3). The husband said the wife lived with him only briefly, stayed at her maternal home for months, insisted on a separate house, and after he set up two rented homes, the second near her parents, left again after a quarrel (para 3). The wife alleged dowry harassment by his parents, said she was driven out while pregnant, and had sought maintenance; their daughter was born in February 2021 (para 4). The Family Court granted divorce on 08.07.2026 after she failed to give evidence for months and did not submit to cross-examination (paras 5-6).

The Bench found that the wife had not cooperated in the trial and had not subjected herself to cross-examination to contradict the husband's case, so the Family Court rightly acted on the material before it; her allegation of being driven out was unproved (paras 6-7). Her own counter affidavit admitted that the husband set up a separate residence because she was unwilling to live in a joint family, and later moved nearer her parents (para 8). Though an only son with a house of his own, he did so, yet she stayed at her maternal home for months without valid reason (para 9). The relationship of husband and wife is reciprocal and cannot be at the dictates of either spouse; frequent separations without valid reason, even if temporary, create insecurity and amount to cruelty (para 9). Having married him knowing he was an only son bound to care for his parents, her unjustified pressure to live separately also amounted to cruelty (para 10).