Punjab and Haryana High Court Declares Calling Husband 'Hijra' as Cruelty
- Posted on October 22, 2024
- News
- By Arijit Dutta
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The Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled that calling a husband 'hijra' constitutes cruelty in divorce cases. The decision came during an appeal involving allegations of controlling behavior and mistreatment. The court upheld the divorce decree, noting that the marriage had irreparably broken down.
In a significant ruling, the Punjab and Haryana High Court declared that referring to a husband as 'hijra' constitutes an act of cruelty, impacting divorce proceedings. This statement emerged during the hearing of an appeal filed by a woman against a divorce decree granted by a family court to her husband.
The court's Division Bench, led by Justices Sudhir Singh and Jasjit Singh Bedi, reviewed the case in which the husband’s mother alleged that his wife had repeatedly labeled him as a hijra, a derogatory term for transgender individuals. The court emphasized that such remarks were not merely offensive but amounted to cruelty, stating, "Terming the respondent-husband as Hijda and suggesting that his mother gave birth to a transgender is an act of cruelty."
The husband claimed in his plea that the wife exhibited controlling behavior, demanding that sexual encounters last a minimum of 15 minutes and occur three times a night. He also alleged that she was addicted to pornography and mobile gaming, going so far as to ask him to time their sexual activities.
Conversely, the wife denied these allegations, asserting that her husband and in-laws mistreated her, including accusations of administering drugs without her consent to control her. She contended that the family court's determination of cruelty was incorrect and stated that she had been evicted from her matrimonial home.
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The court ultimately upheld the family court’s ruling, recognizing that the couple had lived separately for six years and concluding that the marriage had irreparably broken down, describing it as "dead wood."
