The High Court of Delhi said it is difficult to live with a partner who has mental health issues, ending a sixteen-year marriage in which the estranged wife concealed her schizophrenia.
"Marriage isn't just about happy memories and good times; it also requires two people to face challenges and weather the storm together. It's not easy to live with a partner who suffers from mental illness, and such illnesses present their own set of challenges for both the sufferer and the spouse. "There needs to be an understanding of the problems in a marriage, as well as communication between the partners — especially when one of the two partners in a marriage is facing their own challenges," a bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Jasmeet Singh noted in allowing the husband's plea.
The wife's failure to disclose her mental health disorder prior to her marriage was also viewed negatively by the HC, who stated that it "constituted a fraud perpetrated upon the appellant."
It was noted that the wife never informed her husband of her disorder, instead dismissing it as headaches.
"Headache is not a disease in and of itself," the Court stated. They're just signs of a disease. The respondent makes no mention of what caused her severe and frequent headaches, which prevented her from finishing her studies."
The wife's refusal to submit to a medical board of experts' examination "leads to the inference that she was not prepared to face the medical board as that could have exposed the condition of her mental wellbeing, & would have established the allegation that she was suffering from schizophrenia," according to the HC.
Why would a spouse who claims she is not suffering from any mental illness, prefers a petition for restitution of conjugal rights, and expresses her desire to live with the appellant husband refuse to undergo such a medical examination?
The wife sabotaged the court's efforts to reach a definitive conclusion about the truth, according to the report.
"The only way of conclusively determining the respondent's mental health is to subject the respondent to an examination by an expert medical board," it said.
According to the HC, the wife's and her father's actions have resulted in a situation in which the husband's life has been "ruined" and he has been stuck in this relationship for 16 years with no resolution. Because of the obstinacy displayed by not only the respondent, but also her father, who appears to have been calling the shots in relation to the matrimonial dispute raised by the appellant, the appellant has had to suffer during the most important years of his life, when he would have otherwise enjoyed marital & conjugal bliss & satisfaction."