‘Asking a wife for an account of household expenses does not constitute cruelty’, important decision of the Supreme Court, Supreme Court has said that asking a wife for an account of household expenses does not constitute cruelty

New Delhi. The Supreme Court has said in an important decision on Friday that it is not cruelty to ask the wife for the account of household expenses. The Supreme Court has said that the husband asked the wife to prepare an excel sheet of expenses. Criminal action cannot be taken against the husband on this. Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice R. Mahadevan’s bench quashed the FIR lodged by the wife against the husband. The Supreme Court said that the reality of Indian society may be that men often try to dominate and control the household expenses, but this cannot lead to criminal action.

A two-judge Supreme Court bench said courts need to be very careful while dealing with matrimonial complaints. In such cases, the court should also consider the practical reality. The Supreme Court bench said that many cases reach the court because of small everyday matters. Which cannot in any way be categorized as cruelty towards the wife. The Supreme Court said that the husband was accused of asking and forcing his wife to prepare an excel sheet of all the household expenses. Even if this is true, it does not come under the definition of cruelty.

The Supreme Court said that the wife has alleged that the husband had financial and economic dominance, but did not cause concrete mental and physical harm. Because of this the case of cruelty cannot be prosecuted. The Supreme Court said that filing a criminal case cannot be allowed to become a weapon or means to level the issue and vent enmity. Earlier, the Supreme Court was told on behalf of the husband that the wife had misused the law. The husband’s lawyer said that reading the FIR shows that the allegations are not only specific but also general. On behalf of the husband, it was argued in the Supreme Court that the wife did not even provide any evidence of the specific incident of harassment.