The court asked whether the wife still had any mutual trust, affection or intention to resume conjugal life with her husband. The counsels said neither party had any inclination to reunite. (AI-generated image)

The Patna High Court recently affirmed a family court’s decision to dissolve a couple’s marriage , observing that where spouses are unwilling to live together and there is no adjustment between them, their conduct may amount to “reciprocal cruelty”.

A division bench of Justices Rana Vikram Singh and Bibek Chaudhuri passed the order while directing the husband to pay his estranged wife a permanent alimony of Rs 36.25 lakh.

“We are conscious about the fact that we could not pass any decree on irretrievable breakdown of marriage, but where there is absolutely no adjustment between the parties and they do not want to sit, to stay as wife and husband, the act of the parties can be considered as reciprocal cruelty by both the parties.…