Achi news desk-
New Delhi37 minutes ago
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The Delhi High Court has granted divorce to celebrity chef Kunal Kapoor, who is a judge in MasterChef. Kunal had filed a petition in the court on the basis of his wife’s cruelty.
The court said that Kunal’s wife publicly insulted Kunal in front of everyone and made baseless allegations. There is no dignity and sympathy in her behavior towards her husband. The behavior towards these lodges was not good either.
All these things are cruelty. Based on this, the court accepted Kunal’s divorce petition. The Delhi High Court in the Kunal case said that the wife’s conduct came within the ambit of Section 13(1) of the Hindu Marriage Act.
There are 9 grounds considered for divorce in Section 13-
- The husband or wife has had sexual intercourse with someone other than their partner after marriage.
- One party has been cruel to the other party after marriage.
- Have not lived with him for more than 3 years continuously.
- If either party of husband and wife change their religion and leave Hinduism.
- One of the life partners has suffered from such mental illness and has such frequent fits that it is not possible for the complainant to live with him/her.
- Either a man or a woman has been suffering from leprosy.
- One or the other partner has a sexually transmitted disease and there is a fear that the other partner will catch the disease.
- The husband or wife is retired.
- Neither husband nor wife have seen or heard anything about him for the past 7 years.
Clause (2) of Section 13(1) talks about cruelty. Cruelty can be mental as well as physical.
Mental cruelty such as abuse, disrespecting elders, refusing to live with them, falsely accusing someone of having a relationship with someone else, all these come under the category of mental cruelty. Divorce can be granted on the basis of all these.
It is cruelty to force a man to live apart from his parents.
Recently, the Calcutta High Court has said in an order that the husband can file a petition for divorce on the ground of mental cruelty. In this case, the wife was pressuring her husband to live in a house other than their lodge.
She would call her husband unemployed and a coward in public.
The court said that according to Indian culture, it is customary for the son to live with his parents and take care of them. This type of behavior of the woman is mental cruelty. On this basis the court granted the husband a divorce.
A husband is also entitled to a maintenance allowance
After the divorce, the Indore Family Court ordered the wife to pay alimony of Rs 5,000 every month to her husband. The husband is a 12th pass and unemployed while the graduate wife runs a beauty parlour.
Aman, a resident of Ujjain, had lodged a complaint of harassment against his wife Nandini’s family at the police station. Aman claimed that his wife started torturing him physically and mentally after a month of marriage.
She filed a false case of dowry harassment.
The court accepted Aman’s petition to annul the marriage and ordered that the wife pay alimony of Rs 5,000 to the husband every month.
Namrata Luhar, Assistant Professor, University of Baroda, says that maintenance allowance can be obtained in two ways, firstly, Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Act and secondly, Section 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA).
Under these two laws, the woman can request a maintenance allowance. Under Section 125 of CRPC, wife, aged parents and children can claim maintenance.
Under the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, both men and women can claim alimony. The husband can only claim maintenance under the Hindu Marriage Act.
There is no other law other than this for getting maintenance allowance for the husband. There is no provision in the Criminal Procedure Act where the husband can request maintenance.
According to Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, the husband can claim maintenance from the wife. If the husband’s income is not sufficient and there is no source of income, then he can also claim the expenses incurred in the legal process from the wife.
You can also get permanent alimony from your wife.
Namrata says that according to Section 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act, the husband can ask for permanent alimony from the wife. Apart from monthly maintenance, the husband can also ask for a one-time full settlement.
There are two types of permanent alimony, one time payment and a second recurring payment. If the court wishes, it can order for one or both types of alimony.
A woman deserves an allowance, she will have to prove it
The husband will have to provide proof of the wife’s income in the family court for maintenance. His bank account, salary slip, income tax return will also have to be shown.
This is exactly the same as a wife claiming maintenance from her husband. The wife has to prove her husband’s income.
Namrata says that whatever is the monthly income of a man or woman, the expenses of her dependents are deducted from it. A third or half of the net amount left with him may be given to the claimant.
Suppose someone’s salary is Rs 1,00,000 per month. If the expenditure of his dependents is Rs 40,000, then one third of the remaining Rs 60,000 ie Rs 20,000 or half ie Rs 30,000 can be received as maintenance.
