The Madhya Pradesh High Court has annulled a marriage, citing mental cruelty and the right to education as key factors. The court made the observation that compelling a wife to discontinue her education is equivalent to destroying her dreams, and forcing her to live with a person who is both uneducated and unwilling to improve himself constitutes mental cruelty.
The case involved a woman who had married a man from Shajapur in 2015, shortly after clearing her Class 12 examination. She expressed her desire to continue her studies post-marriage, but her in-laws were completely against it. A few days into the marriage, she returned to her parental home and filed for divorce. However, her plea was initially rejected by the family court in Shajapur, which instead ordered her to resume marital relations.
The woman filed an appeal with the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, challenging the family court’s decision. After examining both sides of the argument, the division bench of Justices Vivek Rusia and Gajendra Singh annulled the family court’s orders on March 6, 2025, granting her request for divorce.
The High Court ruled that the marriage had irretrievably broken down due to the couple’s separation in July 2016, with no possibility of reconciliation. Citing Section 13(1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the court dissolved the marriage and set aside the family court’s decree of restitution of conjugal rights.
The court declared, “Compelling the wife to discontinue her studies or creating an environment where she is unable to continue her education is equivalent to destroying her dreams at the very beginning of her marital life.” The court also stated that forcing the woman to live with a person who was not only uneducated but also unwilling to improve himself amounted to mental cruelty, a valid ground for divorce under Section 13(1)(is) of the Hindu Marriage Act.
