‘Burden Of Household Responsibilities Should Be Borne Equally By Husband, Wife’: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has said that in a modern society, the burden of household responsibilities should be borne equally by husband and wife. 

The observation was made by a bench of Justices Nitin Sambre and Sharmila Deshmukh last week while dismissing an appeal filed by a man seeking dissolution of his 13-year-old marriage. The court noted that the man failed to establish his claim of “cruelty” against his estranged wife. 

The 35-year-old man had  challenged an order of 2018 of the Family Court (FC) dismissing his divorce plea on the ground of cruelty. 

Regressive mindset

Both the man and woman were employed, and expecting the wife to do all the household work reflects a regressive mindset, the court noted. 

“In modern society the burden of household responsibilities have to be borne by both husband and wife equally. The primitive mindset expecting the woman of the house to solely shoulder the household responsibilities needs to undergo a positive change,” the judges said.

Isolation from parents

The judges also said that in the marital relationship, the wife must not get isolated from her parents and she cannot be expected to sever the ties with her parents, the court noted. 

The couple had married in 2010. The man alleged that his wife was always on the phone with her mother and did not do household work.

However, the woman claimed that she was forced to do all the household work after returning from office, and faced abuse when she contacted her family. She even alleged that her estranged husband had physically abused her on several occasions.