KOCHI: The High Court has said that continuous neglect and intolerable behaviour from a spouse can be considered cruelty which is worthy of divorce. The Alappuzha Family Court had dismissed the divorce petition of a Mavelikara native who had been separated from her husband for 14 years. The observation was made by a division bench comprising Justice Devan Ramachandran and Justice C Pradeep Kumar rejecting the Alappuzha Family Court order. The petitioner was granted a divorce.

The family court had rejected the divorce stating that everything that happened was normal marital problems and the opposite party, the husband, was ready to accept the woman and the child. The High Court held that this was a wrong decision. The petitioner has spent 10 years with her husband in such a way that she cannot even speak freely. One day in 2010, the petitioner was beaten by her husband and locked in the room. The woman left with her father after that.

The High Court noted that even though marital cruelty cannot be defined with mathematical precision, the evidence in this case is strong.

The petitioner had eloped with the man who had a wife and child at the age of 17. They got legally married in 2005. The woman claimed that she faced continuous neglect and harassment from her husband after the birth of the child. The High Court rejected the husband's contention that the petitioner had trapped him by threatening to commit suicide.