The court said that the mangalsutra can be removed only after the death of the husband.
Chennai:
Removal of the ‘thali’ (mangalsutra) by a estranged wife would subject the husband to the mental cruelty of the Supreme Order, the Madras High Court has granted divorce to the aggrieved person.
A division bench of Justices VM Velumani and S Saunther made the observation while allowing the civil miscellaneous appeal of C Shivakumar, who was working as a professor in a medical college in Erode recently.
They sought quashing of the June 15, 2016 order of the local family court, which had denied them divorce.
When the woman was examined, she admitted that at the time of separation, she removed the chain (the sacred chain worn by the wife as a sign of marriage) from her plate. Although she went on to explain that she had retained the plate and only removed the chain, the act of removing it had significance of its own.
Her counsel cited Section 7 of the Hindu Marriage Act to say that tying a thali is not necessary and therefore its removal by the wife, even taking it to be true, will not affect the marital relationship.
But, it is a matter of common knowledge that thali tying is a necessary ritual in marriage ceremonies taking place in this part of the world, the bench said.
The court also referred to the orders of a Division Bench of the High Court, which held that “from the material available on record, it is also seen that the petitioner has removed the plate and it is also his own admission that he has It was a known fact that no Hindu married woman would remove the thali at any time during her husband’s lifetime.
“The thali around a woman’s neck was a sacred thing which signifies the continuation of marital life and is to be removed only after the death of the husband. Therefore, its removal by the petitioner/wife may be said to be an act which is mental. Cruelty of the highest order as it could have caused pain and hurt feelings of the respondent,” the bench had said.
Applying the same criterion, the present bench observed that the removal of the chain of a thali is often treated as an informal act. “We do not say for a moment that the removal of the chain of the plate is sufficient to terminate the matrimonial bond, but the said act of the respondent (wife) is a piece of evidence in inferring the intentions of the parties. The act of the respondent in removing the thali chain at the time of separation along with various other evidence available on record, compels us to come to a definite conclusion that the parties have no intention of reconciling and continuing the marital bond,” the bench observed. Told.
Further, the bench said that he had made allegations of extramarital affairs with his female colleagues against the man in the presence of colleagues, students and also before the police. In the light of the judgments of the Supreme Court and the High Courts, the judges said that they have no hesitation in holding that the wife has committed mental cruelty by doubting the character of the husband and making false allegations of extramarital affairs in his presence. other.
“We are given to understand that the appellant and his wife are living separately since 2011 and there is no evidence to show that the wife has made any effort for reunification during this period. Hence the facts of the case And in the circumstances and having regard to our finding that the wife has caused mental cruelty to the husband by her act, we hereby grant a complete stop to the marital bond by decree of dissolution of the marriage between the petitioner and the respondent (wife) in November. , 2008,” the bench said, setting aside the order of the trial court and granting divorce to the petitioner.
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