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Journalism of Courage
Observing that a woman’s decision to undergo an abortion without her husband’s consent amounts to cruelty, a court here has granted divorce to a man who alleged his “figure conscious” wife did not inform him before terminating her pregnancies.
The court admitted Kishan Chand’s divorce plea noting that his wife Kanta Devi had treated him with cruelty by not sharing her abortion plans with him, allegedly abusing him and her in-laws and filing harassment complaints against them.
“The behaviour of the respondent (wife) coupled with other facts like getting abortions, taking away money and jewellery of the petitioner’s parents and lodging of criminal complaints amount to cruelty,” Additional District Judge Atul Kumar Garg said in a recent order.
Passing a decree of divorce in favour of the petitioner, the court observed that the marriage between them had irretrievably broken down and it was very difficult to restore the conjugal tie in view of the behaviour of his wife.
Chand had successfully pieced together the incidents and circumstances that went on to establish that he, along with his parents, was ill-treated by his wife since their marriage in 1993, it said.
In her defence, Devi claimed that charges levelled by her husband were concocted and she was willing to return to her matrimonial home despite living separately for more than eight years.
The court, however, noted that Chand had proved his claims regarding her unilateral decision of abortions, frequent feuds over trivial matters and other instances of misconduct by her and ordered for dissolution of the marriage.
Multifarious criminal proceedings initiated by Devi against Chand and his parents further went on to corroborate the husband’s contentions, it said.
