Saying wife can't stay with husband if she fails to bring money not harassment: Bombay HC

New Delhi: In the FIR filed against her husband and in-laws, a wife claimed that they had asked her to bring Rs. 5 lahks from her parent's home so that her husband could pay money to obtain a permanent job in public service.

The Bombay High Court recently ruled that simply telling a woman that she would be permitted to live with her husband if she does not bring a certain amount of money from her parents' house in response to such a demand by her husband or in-laws would not constitute mental or physical harassment, The Wire reported.

“Then the husband and in-laws responded that if she is unable to bring the amount, then she should not come for cohabitation and on that count, she was harassed mentally and physically time and again. Again the acts amounting to ‘physical and mental cruelty’ are not given.Statement that unless she brings the amount she should not come for cohabitation without any action will not amount to mental and physical harassment,” the judges held in their order pronounced on January 10,” said the court in its order on January 10, reported LiveLaw.

According to the court, the wife was unable to accurately document the dates on which the requests were made and the length of time the accused continued to make them. According to the judges, the woman's claims were "vague," and she failed to mention the harshness and mistreatment she had endured. The FIR was later quashed by the bench.