Divorce — Mental Cruelty · 27 August 2026

S v. S: Madras High Court Upholds Husband's Divorce, Finding Pressure on an Only Son to Live Separately and Long Stays at the Maternal Home Amounted to Cruelty

High Court of Judicature at Madras · 2026 LiveLaw (Mad) 438; CMA No. 2942 of 2026

The couple married in June 2019. The husband said his wife did not accompany him to the matrimonial home after the wedding, went to her maternal home after two months and stayed almost four months, and used abusive language when asked to return. He said she later insisted that he set up a separate house, stayed there only a month, and forced a move to another house near her parents, and that after a quarrel over a phone call she left and did not return. The wife said they moved only because of problems created by the husband's parents over dowry, that her husband did not come to see their baby girl, and that the divorce petition was filed to deprive her of maintenance and to remarry. The Family Court granted the husband a divorce and the wife appealed.

A Division Bench of Justice P.T. Asha and Justice Nidumolu Mala dismissed the appeal. It noted that the wife had not cooperated in the trial, did not submit to cross-examination and led no evidence. It held that forcing a husband who is an only son to set up a separate residence, and staying at the maternal home for months without valid reason, created insecurity in the husband and amounted to cruelty. The Court observed that the relationship of husband and wife is reciprocal and cannot be dictated by either spouse.

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