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Grounds for Divorce in India – Name Calling

In Georgia, and in the rest of the United States, there are specified grounds for divorce. O.C.G.A. §19-5-3. For someone to be granted a divorce in Georgia, they must allege and sufficiently prove on of the 13 specified grounds. Fortunately, one of the grounds is "the marriage is irretrievable broken," which is considered sort of a catchall provision for those who just no longer want to remain married.

The Delhi high court in India recently upheld a lower court's decision to grant a divorce based on "mental cruelty." India court says 'fat elephant' taunt grounds for divorce, bbc.com, March 28, 2016. In that case, a husband had filed for divorce alleging that the wife's taunting amounted to mental cruelty. Specifically, according to the husband, the wife "regularly humiliated him for being overweight and incapable of satisfying her sexual desires," and called him fat elephant. The Court held that "the calling of names and hurling of abuses…is bound to strike at his self-respect and self-esteem," and there was no claim by the wife that she was joking or making the comments out of love. In fact, the wife's only defense was that the husband's claims were "vague and non-specific," which the court rejected.

These same actions could fall under the "cruel treatment" ground for divorce in Georgia. O.C.G.A. §19-5-3(10). This ground includes the willful infliction of mental pain. The only hang up could be that the statute requires that the pain cause reasonably justifiable danger to life, limb, or health. Id. However, mental/emotional abuse, as in this case, can certainly cause health issues, both mental and physical. In a case such as this, it would be beneficial to document as much as possible so there is no question in the eyes of the Judge that your spouse's cruel treatment caused the demise of the marriage.

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Family Law (general)
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