ASD v. LCSIBD
Supreme Court of India2026 INSC 475Bench: Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta
The Supreme Court held that a wife's autonomous decision to pursue her professional career and to independently establish her own identity cannot, by itself, be construed as 'cruelty' within the meaning of Section 13(1)(i-a) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, merely because her career choices do not align with the expectations or sentiments of the husband or his in-laws. The Court emphasised that the constitutional guarantee of equality under Articles 14 and 15, the right to personal liberty and dignity under Article 21, and the evolving jurisprudence on the autonomy of married women require courts to scrutinise allegations of matrimonial cruelty through a contemporary and non-patriarchal lens. Treating a qualified professional woman's pursuit of her vocation as 'desertion' or 'cruelty' was characterised as a legally unsustainable and regressive approach that effectively penalises women for the exercise of their constitutional and personal freedoms. The Bench accordingly set aside the findings of cruelty and desertion recorded by the Family Court and expunged the adverse observations against the appellant. The Court was careful to note that genuine instances of neglect of marital obligations, abandonment without reasonable cause or sustained conduct causing mental agony to the spouse would still fall within Section 13(1)(i-a); the ratio is narrow but firm — career pursuit, standing alone, is not cruelty.