‘Not Always Feasible To Take Wife Along’: Madras HC Grants Divorce After 16-Year Separation

The Madras High Court has criticised a Family Court for refusing to grant a husband divorce on the ground of adultery and observing that he had “enabled” his wife’s alleged affair by not taking her along to his place of employment.

High Court rejects reasoning

A bench of Justice GR Swaminathan and Justice MD Sumathi said it could not endorse the Family Court’s reasoning, observing that it may not always be practical for a husband to take his wife with him, particularly when his job involves difficult postings.

The court was hearing the husband’s appeal against the denial of divorce. It noted that although he had alleged adultery, he had failed to implead the alleged paramour as a necessary party, which was fatal to that plea.

Family Court faulted husband

However, the High Court disagreed with the Family Court’s approach that the husband had breached his marital obligations by leaving his wife in Mumbai and had thereby contributed to the circumstances leading to the alleged affair.

The Family Court had reasoned that prolonged separation could make it difficult to resist sexual impulses and that the husband could have avoided the situation by taking his wife with him.

Court grants divorce

The High Court noted that the couple had been living separately for 16 years, with neither reconciliation nor any formal effort by the wife to resume cohabitation. It concluded that the marriage had broken down irretrievably and its continuation would amount to cruelty.

The court accordingly granted divorce and directed the husband to pay ₹7 lakh as alimony to his wife.