SC to examine if refusal to acknowledge alleged mental disorder can be ground for divorce

A woman is challenging husband's plea for divorce for declining to undertake treatment for alleged paranoid schizophrenia

The Supreme Court has decided to examine a critical question of whether refusing to acknowledge an alleged mental illness and get medical treatment by a spouse can be a ground for granting divorce.

The matter arose before the top court after a woman from Kerala and currently working in the United Kingdom questioned the High Court's judgement allowing her husband's plea for divorce for declining to undertake treatment for alleged paranoid schizophrenia.

Acting on her plea, a bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Aniruddha Bose on Friday issued notice to the husband and stayed the HC's order of September 2, 2021.

The woman through her plea filed by advocate Vipin Nair contended the High Court at one point in the order said the woman does not suffer from any sort of mental disorder and there is no material to grant divorce on the ground of unsound mind. However, at another place, the High Court went on to observe erroneously that she was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.

She relied upon the apex court's judgement in the case of Kollam Chandra Shekhar vs Kollam Padma Latha (2014) that the ailment of a spouse cannot be a reason to grant a decree of divorce even if it results in unusual behaviour which is not expected in normal marital life.

Moreover, the High Court's same division bench had disallowed her husband's claim for custody rights of her two daughters, saying she is mentally fit to take care of children, in separate proceedings.

It also pointed out that the High Court failed to consider that she was a trained nurse, and worked in several reputed medical institutions and was currently employed in the UK with the National Health Service Scheme.

Her plea also said she never admitted that she is suffering from mental disorder, so there can't be a question of her treating the husband with cruelty and consequently no divorce could have been granted on that ground alone.

The couple were married as per Christian rites and ceremonies on September 01, 2001 at a church. Two daughters were born in 2002 and 2009. After about a decade, the woman left her matrimonial home, as she claimed her in-laws were bent upon to get a declaration that she suffered from mental disorder.

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