Bengaluru (PTI): The High Court of Karnataka has said that insulting a man for being dark-skinned by his wife constitutes cruelty as it underlined this as a strong reason for allowing his appeal and granted him divorce.

The HC stated this, in a recent judgement, while granting divorce to a 44-year-old man from his 41-year-old wife.

The evidence on record, from close scrutiny, also leads to the conclusion that the wife used to insult the husband on the premise that he is dark and for the same reason has moved away from the company of the husband without any cause, the court noted.

"To cover up this aspect, (she) has levelled false allegations of illicit relationships against the husband. These facts certainly will constitute cruelty," the HC said while allowing the petition for dissolution of the marriage under Section 13(i)(a) of the Hindu Marriage Act.

The couple from Bengaluru got married in 2007 and had a girl child. In 2012, the husband approached a family court in Bengaluru seeking divorce.

His appeal was heard by the division bench of Justices Alok Aradhe and Anant Ramanath Hegde, which gave the judgment.

"It is the case of the husband that the wife used to humiliate him on the pretext that he is dark-skinned. He has further stated that the husband used to bear insult for the sake of the child," the HC noted.

She had also filed a case under Section 498A (subjecting a married woman to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code against her husband and in-laws.

The woman also filed a case under the Domestic Violence Act and left with the child to live with her parents.

She had denied the allegations in the family court and in turn alleged that it was the husband and his family members who were ill-treating her and subjecting her to cruelty.

She alleged that they demanded dowry from her and did not allow her to go out with her child. She also alleged that her husband had an illicit relationship with another woman and had a child with her.

The family court had dismissed the husband's petition for divorce in 2017 after which he approached the HC, which pronounced the verdict recently.

The HC said that the allegations levelled against the husband that he is having an illicit relationship with a lady is totally unfounded and baseless as well as reckless.

"This allegation made in paragraph No.10 of the statement of objections is serious. If such an allegation is made in the pleading, it can be certainly concluded that the person against whom such allegation is made will be subject to enormous mental cruelty. This fact has not been appreciated by the Family Court at all."

The HC also said that calling him dark amounted to cruelty.

"It is further stated that the wife has not made any attempt to join the company of the husband to come back and the evidence on record would establish that she was not interested in the marriage because of the dark complexion of the husband. By referring to these contentions, it is urged that the Family Court ought to have granted a decree for the dissolution of marriage," the HC said setting aside the family court order.

 

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Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.

The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.

On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."

His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.

In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”

Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”

Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.

After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.

“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.

“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”

Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.

Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay. 

Chaotic end to a poor season

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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.

It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.

Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.

Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.