Wife Can't Be Forced To Live With Husband's Second Wife: Himachal Pradesh HC

Himachal Pradesh court gave an important decision in a the case of a man living with his first wife and second wife in the same house.

Himachal Pradesh High Court bench headed by Justice Satyen Vaidya was hearing a case of dissolution of a marriage between Nain Sukh and Seema Devi.

The husband and wife have been living separately since 1995 and the husband filed an appeal for dissolution of marriage claiming that his wife was cruel to him and left him without any explanation. He claimed that he made efforts to bring her back to his home but she refused. However, the Trial Court refused to acknowledge the evidence he produced to support his claims.

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Himachal Pradesh HC On Separation

The husband filed a petition in HC over the dismissal of his case in the Trial Court and the bench recently heard the case. Justice Vaidya observed that there hadn't been any instances of cruelty except alleging that the behaviour of his wife was hostile towards her in-laws and husband from the very beginning.

The bench inferred that according to the Hindu Marriage And Divorce Rules 1982, mere allegations are not enough to prove claims of cruelty. The bench observed the proceedings of Dr. N.G Dastane Vs. Mrs. S. Dastane case of 1975 and reportedly said that to claim cruelty, the date, time and incident must be clearly specified.

However, in this case, the appellant-husband and his father had only made generalised allegations against his wife regarding hostile behaviour and not provided any specific details.

The court also said that the husband married another woman after separating from his wife and was living with her in his home. Hence, his first wife had the right to refuse to live in the same house as her husband's second wife.

The court said that the claims of cruelty against the wife were not proved and her deserting her husband was justified because of his second wife. Hence, his appeal was dismissed.