The Allahabad High Court recently held that forcing an estranged husband and wife to live together despite their intense hate towards each other amounts to cruelty, while granting the couple divorce.
A bench led by Justice Pavankumar Bajanthri refused to accept the argument of the husband that he had performed second marriage in 2004 after taking prior consent of his first wife, with whom he had married in May 1978.
The Court was hearing a plea filed by a husband, a professor, who after making several advances, forced his student to marry him and later subjected her to ill-treatment.
The High Court noted that the husband had deserted the wife within five months of their marriage and that he didn't make any effort to bring her back, while the wife was ready to cohabit.