Wife's Demand To Live Separately From In-Laws Is "Unreasonable": Jharkhand High Court

Jharkhand High Court in its recent judgement observed that wife”s insistence to live separately from in-laws is “unreasonable”. The court stated that serving elderly mother-in-law is part of Indian culture and obligation for women in India.

“It is the culture in India to serve the aged mother-in-law or grandmother-in-law as the case may be by the wife, in order to preserve this culture,” India Today quotes as the court is saying.

Single-judge Justice Subhash Chand pronounced this order while handling a plea challenging an order passed by a Family Court which ordered a man to pay ₹30,000 as maintenance to his estranged wife and ₹15,000 to their minor son.

Subash Chand in its 25-page order pointed Article 51A of the Constitution, quoted Hindu religious texts including Manusmriti, and brought references from Teresa Chacko”s book Introduction to Family Life Education to underline the role of women in family and her duties and responsibilities.

Citing lines from Manusmriti, the court observed: “Where the women of the family are miserable, the family is soon destroyed, but it always thrives where the women are contended.”

The woman accused that her husband and in-laws subjected her to mental agony and pressured her for dowry. Meanwhile, the man alleged that wife pressured the husband for living separately from his mother and grandmother without any proper reasons.

Therefore, single-judge dismissed the family court order which allowed ₹30,000 maintenance to the wife and opined that since she has given no reasonable grounds for living away from her husband, she is not entitled to any maintenance. The Court, however, advanced the son”s maintenance from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000. Bar and Bench reports.