Prolonged Marital Separation Can Amount to Mental Cruelty; Dead Relationship Need Not Be Sustained: Supreme Court

In a significant ruling on matrimonial law, the Supreme Court has upheld a decree of divorce and held that prolonged separation of spouses may amount to a de facto abandonment of marriage, even if there is no explicit intention of desertion. The Court emphasized that when a marriage becomes a “dead relationship” with no real cohabitation or reconciliation, it can constitute mental cruelty under Section 13(1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage…