No cruelty in asking married woman to do household work: Bombay HC

When a married woman is asked to do household work for the family, it is not cruelty and does not amount to domestic violence, Bombay High Court has ruled.

A Division Bench of the Aurangabad Bench of Bombay High court comprising Justice Vibha Kankanwadi and Justice Rajesh Patil quashed on October 21, a First Information Report (FIR) lodged by a woman against her estranged husband and his parents. The woman had alleged that she was treated properly for a month after her marriage, but later she was being treated like a “maid servant”.

It was her claim that her husband and his parents started demanding Rs 4 lakh to buy a four-wheeler, a month after the marriage. On her complaint that she was subjected to mental and physical harassment by her husband over this demand, the court said that the woman had merely stated she was harassed, but had not specified any such act in her complaint.

“If a married lady is asked to do household work definitely for the purpose of the family, it cannot be said it is like a maid servant. If she had no wish to do her household activities, then she ought to have told it either prior to the marriage so that the bridegroom can rethink about the marriage itself or if it is after marriage, then such problem ought to have been sorted out earlier,” the court said.

It further said mere use of the words harassment ‘mentally and physically’ is not sufficient to attract Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) unless such acts are described. “Unless those acts are described, it cannot be concluded whether those acts amounted to harassment or subjecting a person to cruelty,” the HC order stated.

The Court said that the several generalised allegations against the husband would not attract the offence under the provision, the court said, and allowed the petition filed by the husband and his parents seeking to quash the case.