Mental Cruelty constitutes threat of danger to the person on whom it is practised. This type of abuse can happen to anyone, yet the problem is often overlooked, excused or denied. Mental cruelty occurs whenever one person in an intimate relationship or marriage tries to dominate and control the other person. Hence when we deal with cases of mental cruelty we should not be biased towards any gender. In traditional Indian culture, males are more valued than females. When more western and Indian women are attaining higher education and securing higher paying careers, the traditional role of a wife as subservient to her husband and as the primary caretaker for the children is still practiced and expected of  women. Psychological distress and disorders are often explained in a religious framework, in terms of either spirit possessions or violation of some moral or religious principle. In a case in which , a series of acts have been alleged to amount to cruelty, physical or mental , the cruelty so alleged must be such as to cause mental anguish that would affect the health of the person and life , so that the Court could opinion that cruelty indeed was practiced. In absence of such a plea and evidence that cruelty practiced by wife was such as to cause health problems to husband endangering his life and person it cannot be said that mere series of incidents of quarrel between the husband and wife on account of presence of the mother-in-law or mostly on account of the fact that husband did not set up separate establishment of his own, would amount to mental cruelty. Here particularly the article is addressing the role of judiciary in striking a balance between ethical anxiety and mental cruelty.

Keywords: Mental Cruelty; Mental Pain; Agony and Suffering; Ground for Divorce; Domestic Violence.