The High Court on Wednesday while granting a divorce to a man from his wife, held that a woman who leaves her husband's company for a long period of time without his consent amounts to cruelty and can be a ground for divorce. Justice Vibha Kankanwadi allowed an appeal filed by the husband challenging an order of the Jalgaon court which had turned down the divorce plea filed by him under Section 13 (1) (1-a) of the Hindu Marriage Act. The husband had argued that the woman would stay at her parent's house for months. To which the bench said: "Frequent visit to parental house and residing there for two to three months at a stretch can be considered as harassment because her husband had not given consent for such arrangement." In her defence, the woman claimed that theirs was a love marriage; her husband knew of her children from the first marriage and had consented to take care of them. However, she did not bring them along to the new house after her marriage and would visit her parental house to take care of them. The husband denied having any knowledge of her previous marriage or her children. The court rejected the woman's argument saying: "Had the husband taken responsibility of her children, the problem would not have arisen in the first place." The husband also argued that the woman would threaten to commit suicide levying false allegations against him. Thus, he sought for divorce in the face of 'mental harassment and agony'. Countering the plea the wife argued that the husband was a womanizer and drunkard, and had taken loans from people which he is unable to pay. The court after going through the evidence recorded before the family court said: "Allegations merely on the basis of suspicion is a different thing and if there was any kind of truth in those allegations then wife ought to have supported the same with some evidence. She had not taken the opportunity when it was available. Under such circumstances, statements made without evidence can be termed as mental cruelty." DIVORCE GRANTED

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