It Is Not Cruelty To Get Daughter-In-Law To Do Housework: Aurangabad High Court

Aurangabad, 27th October 2022: The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court has observed that asking a married woman to do household chores is not cruelty. The High Court has said that it cannot even be compared with the work of a house-help. A woman had alleged in her complaint that she was treated well for a month after marriage, but after that, they started treating her like a house-help.

Rejecting the woman’s application, the High Court said, “If a married woman is asked to do household work for the family, it does not mean that she should be treated like a house-help. If the woman did not wish to do the household chores, she should have told it before marriage so that the groom can rethink, and if this problem arises after marriage, it should have been taken care of sooner.”

The High Court said in their order that the woman had only said that she was harassed, but she did not know about any action in her complaint. The mere use of the words mentally and physically abusive is not sufficient for section 498A of the Indian Penal Code unless such acts are described.

With this, a division bench of Justice Vibha Kankanwadi and Justice Rajesh Patil quashed the FIR lodged against the woman’s husband and his parents on October 21. The woman had filed a petition in the High Court alleging domestic violence and cruelty against the husband and her mother-in-law.