The Jharkhand High Court has ruled that a newly married woman's act of applying kajal and lipstick late at night cannot be construed as evidence of mental illness, observing that personal grooming at any hour is a normal human behaviour and not a ground to infer psychiatric disorder.
A division bench comprising Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Sanjay Prasad upheld the Giridih Family Court's decision and dismissed a husband's appeal seeking dissolution of marriage on the ground that his wife was allegedly mentally ill.
The husband had contended that he began suspecting his wife's mental condition after seeing her apply kajal and lipstick around 2 am shortly after their 2015 marriage. He further alleged that her family had concealed her purported psychiatric illness before the wedding.
Rejecting the claim, the High Court found that the husband failed to produce any medical records, psychiatric reports, expert testimony or evidence to establish that his wife suffered from a mental disorder. The bench observed that mere suspicion or personal assumptions cannot be treated as proof of mental illness.
The court also pointed out that the marriage was arranged and that the couple had met in the presence of their respective families before the wedding. Had there been any unusual behaviour, the husband could have noticed it at that stage, the bench remarked.
Records showed that the couple lived together for nearly two-and-a-half years before the husband left his wife at her parental home on July 10, 2017, and filed a divorce petition the very next day. The court concluded that the breakdown of the marriage was attributable to the husband's conduct rather than the wife's.
During the proceedings, the wife alleged that she was falsely labelled mentally ill after her family failed to satisfy dowry demands. She informed the court that her father had transferred Rs 1 lakh to the husband's bank account through RTGS, but after an additional demand of Rs 2 lakh was not met, she faced physical and mental harassment before being deserted.
The bench further observed that throughout the reconciliation efforts, the wife repeatedly expressed her willingness to resume matrimonial life, whereas the husband consistently refused to take her back.
Emphasising the legal position, the High Court held that mental illness can constitute a ground for divorce only when supported by credible medical evidence proving that the condition is so severe that normal marital life becomes impossible.
Since no such evidence was produced, the court held that the husband had failed to establish either mental illness or desertion and could not benefit from his own actions.
In its order, the bench noted that the husband's own testimony merely stated that he was frightened after seeing his wife applying kajal and lipstick at night, but nowhere did it indicate conduct suggesting mental illness.
The court observed that it is common for a newly married woman to adorn herself at any time and such behaviour cannot be treated as abnormal.
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