Sister’s marital discord spills into his own marriage

A feud between a man’s sister and his wife’s brother spilled into his own marriage, triggering a separation that has dragged on for 17 years. Now, the Jharkhand High Court has refused to grant him a divorce, finding that he failed to prove cruelty or desertion by his wife—and upheld an order directing him to resume married life with her.

A division bench of Justices Sujit Narayan Prasad and Pradeep Kumar Srivastava dismissed both appeals filed by the husband on October 8, upholding the Jamshedpur family court’s rejection of his divorce petition and its order allowing his wife’s plea for restitution of conjugal rights.

The couple married on May 5, 2009, but their relationship broke down within months. In July that year, the husband took his wife to her parental home for Raksha Bandhan. They never resumed living together, though they offered conflicting accounts of how the separation occurred. The husband, referred to here as Amit, alleged that his wife, Neha, refused to return to the matrimonial home unless he arranged separate accommodation away from his elderly parents. Neha, however, maintained that Amit had left her at her parental home and never returned to take her back.

The dispute was further complicated by tensions between their families. Amit’s sister, Pooja, was married to Neha’s brother, Rahul. Amit alleged that Rahul had deserted Pooja and their daughter, leaving him to look after them. He linked the breakdown of his own marriage to this family dispute.

The High Court, however, found that Amit had failed to establish the legal grounds required for divorce. The evidence indicated that he had left Neha at her parental home and had pressured her to resolve the dispute involving his sister and her brother. His allegations did not establish that Neha had treated him with cruelty or deserted him.

The case resulted in two separate proceedings before the family court. While Amit sought divorce on grounds of cruelty and desertion, Neha filed a petition seeking restitution of conjugal rights, asking the court to direct her husband to resume married life with her.

In June 2024, the family court dismissed Amit’s divorce suit but allowed Neha’s petition, directing him to resume cohabitation within three months. Amit challenged both orders before the High Court.

Dismissing his appeals, the bench found no sufficient reason to interfere with the family court’s decisions. The ruling leaves Amit without the divorce he sought, while Neha’s plea for restoration of their marital relationship remains upheld after nearly 17 years apart.

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