Treat wife with respect, otherwise go to jail: Supreme Court uses Hindi to settle dispute

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Wednesday told a husband to treat his wife with respect and if he fails, then be ready to land in jail as it worked out a settlement between a young couple. The wife had alleged that the husband had tortured her and also does not treat her with respect.

A bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and Justice Surya Kant while hearing the matter virtually asked both husband and wife to come online.

Justice Kant conversed with the couple in Hindi in an attempt to work out a settlement between the warring couple. The wife submitted that she is willing to live with her husband, but he does not treat her with respect. Taking to Hindi, Justice Kant told the husband: "We will watch your behaviour. If you do anything wrong, we will not spare you".

Justice Kant cautioned the husband not to renege on the promise to treat his wife with respect and asked him to withdraw all cases against his wife, including the divorce petition.

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The Chief Justice told senior advocate Anjana Prakash, appearing for the husband, "File an affidavit for withdrawing cases. But if the husband misbehaves, we will send him back to jail. We are keeping the case pending". The husband said he will not ill-treat her and live with her peacefully. The woman, emphasizing on a condition for settlement, said "Bus torture na kare (he should not torture me)". The bench warned him, "If it is drama for bail, we will not leave".

The bench stressed that the couple should normalise their relationship and told Prakash that she should have done this and not the court. The couple agreed to withdraw all cases against each other. The bench said it will keep the matter pending and asked the husband to file an affidavit stating that he is prepared to withdraw all cases.

Last week, Chief Justice Ramana, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, conversed with a woman in Telugu, to put an end to a two-decade old legal battle between an Andhra Pradesh-based estranged couple. The two-decade old legal battle between the couple was marred with many failed mediations. The woman had moved the top court seeking enhancement of jail term for her husband.

Chief Justice Ramana explained the legal situation to the woman in Telugu and told her enhancing the jail term was not going to help either of them. Finally, the woman agreed to withdraw the plea seeking enhancement of jail term for her husband in a dowry case.