Taunting person for handicap most inhumane kind of cruelty: Punjab & Haryana High Court grants divorce to polio afflicted man

The Punjab and Haryana High Court, earlier this week, held that taunting a person for their handicap constitutes the most inhumane kind of cruelty that could be meted out to any disabled person [Karamjit Singh vs Davinder Kaur]. .The order was passed by a bench comprising Justices Ritu Bahri and Nidhi Gupta while putting an end to a nearly two-decade old marital dispute of a polio afflicted man, who divorce on the grounds of both mental and physical cruelty. "Taunting a person for his handicap, and pushing him around to throw him on the ground when he is helpless and unable to defend himself, constitutes the most inhumane kind of cruelty which can be meted out to any disabled person", said the bench. .Before the court was an appeal against an order of the family court refusing to grant the man a divorce on the ground of cruelty. The couple had married in 2004, and within a month of the wedding, the husband found out that the wife had lied about her age, an earlier marriage and the fact that she had a son.He also claimed that she subjected him to extreme torture by taunting him about his disability, pushing him on the floor in front of his relatives and friends. .The family court had refused to accept the contentions on the ground that the husband had failed to point to the exact date and place where the alleged incidents of pushing or taunting by the wife took place. .The High Court, however, noted that the family judge failed to appreciate evidence in a proper manner, especially the testimonies of the witnesses who appeared for the husband. "The impugned order is strangely silent regarding these testimonies. No mention whatsoever is made in the impugned order regarding the statements of these witnesses which are vital to the case. In our considered view, there is sufficient evidence on record in form of the testimonies where it is established that the wife ill-treated him for his handicap," the judges opined. Therefore, the findings of the family court were reversed..The bench also noted that this marriage had irretrievably broken down as both the parties were living separately since 2005. "Therefore, this marriage is a mere legal fiction surviving only on paper," the bench observed while dissolving the marriage. .The court, despite finding cruelty on the wife's part, recorded that it was not oblivious to her requirements or those of the parties' son. Therefore, the husband was directed to pay ₹15 lakhs to the wife as one-time permanent alimony and ₹10 lakhs to the son. .Advocate Navjot Singh appeared for the husband. Advocate SP Soi represented the wife. .[Read Judgment]