Husband humiliates wife sharing old relationship photos with family, High Court grants divorce: 'Once trust is broken...'

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• Jharkhand High Court grants divorce citing husband's mental cruelty to wife
• Husband circulated wife's pre-marriage photos, leading to humiliation at home
• Court says cruelty includes psychological torment, not just physical violence

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The Jharkhand High Court has dissolved a marriage after finding that a woman was subjected to sustained mental cruelty by her husband, who humiliated her over photographs from a relationship she had before the wedding.

The Court observed that once trust and respect are destroyed, the marital bond cannot survive.

Allowing the woman’s appeal, the Division Bench observed that the conduct of the husband went beyond mere marital discord and amounted to character assassination. It noted that the husband had accessed certain photographs stored on his wife’s Google Drive and circulated them among his family members, which then became the basis for her continued humiliation at her matrimonial home.

“By showing those objectionable photographs to his family members by the respondent-husband and on the basis of that she was being humiliated by the family members of the respondent-husband, which is nothing but the character assassination of the wife by her own husband,” the Bench said.

The judges stressed that cruelty under matrimonial law is not confined to physical violence and can also take the form of psychological torment. According to the Court, the emotional distress inflicted on the woman was so severe that cohabitation had become impossible.

“Relationship of wife and husband is based on the trust and respect to have upon each other and if it is broken it is non-repairable as the trust is the foundation of marriage. Marriage is a relationship built on mutual trust, companionship and shared experiences,” the Bench remarked.

The ruling came in an appeal filed by a 32-year-old woman who married in 2020. Earlier, she had approached a family court seeking divorce on the grounds of cruelty, but her plea was rejected in 2023, prompting her to challenge that decision before the High Court.

As per the case record, the trouble began immediately after the wedding. The woman alleged that while she was asleep, her husband checked her mobile phone and came across photographs related to her pre-marriage relationship. She claimed that he transferred those images to his own device and subsequently threatened to upload them on social media platforms. She further alleged that she was subjected to harassment and torture thereafter.

The husband, however, disputed these allegations. He maintained that he was willing to accept her despite knowing about her past and argued that she had not disclosed her earlier relationship to him before marriage.

While examining the material on record, the Court held that there was no firm evidence to substantiate allegations of physical assault. Nonetheless, it said that the absence of proof of physical violence does not negate the existence of cruelty in law.

“On the basis of the aforesaid settled position of law, it is considered view of this Court that in the case at hand, it is mental cruelty that has been meted out to the appellant-wife so that it is next to impossible to live together with her respondent/ husband,” the Bench ruled.

Consequently, the High Court set aside the family court’s order and granted the woman a decree of divorce under Section 13(1)(i-a) of the Hindu Marriage Act, saying, “accordingly, the instant appeal stands allowed.”