Asking earning wife to contribute towards family expenses doesn’t amount to cruelty: HC
Times of India | 5 September 2025
Kolkata: Expecting an educated and earning woman to contribute towards household expenses does not constitute ‘cruelty' under section IPC 498A, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday held while quashing criminal proceedings and a case under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act filed against a Geological Survey of India employee and his parents.
Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta observed: "It is inherent in conjugal life that both spouses are expected to maintain mutual respect, share responsibilities, and contribute to the welfare of society. The opposite party number 2 (wife) is an educated and earning woman, and the routine expectations of contributing towards household expenses, making online purchases during the Covid-19 lockdown, or being asked to feed the child by the mother-in-law, cannot, by any stretch, constitute ‘cruelty' within the meaning of section 498A IPC.
Likewise, payment of EMIs for a jointly acquired apartment, or the father taking the child outside are not unusual incidents of domestic life."
The woman, also a GSI employee, filed plaints against her husband and his family before the Patuli PS. The couple got married in 2011. She alleged that the man "was impatient, aggressive, unsupportive, cruel, uncaring, insensitive, critical, demanding, self-obsessed, proud and unromantic".
She alleged that her husband and his parents remarked on her appearance and mocked her for her lower class and lower caste.
She alleged that they pressured her to pay the home loan EMI. She alleged that her child and she were not provided with sufficient food, clothes and medicines, and she was compelled to purchase them online. "It is settled law that not every instance of discord amounts to ‘cruelty' within the meaning of 498A IPC...," the court held.
On mocking of her caste, the court ruled that it did not occur in public view, therefore, it does not attract provisions of Section 3(1)(u) of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.