Sanctity of marriage does not lie in one-sided submission or silent suffering: HC

Respect within marriage is ageless and protection of dignity, especially of elderly women, is the truest reflection of a civilized society, observed the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court while restoring a trial court judgment sentencing a man to six months of imprisonment for offence under Section 498 A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) of Indian Penal Code.

The court was hearing the appeal filed by a woman, an octogenarian, from Paramakudi in Ramanathapuram district against the judgment of the Additional District and Sessions Court, Paramakudi, which acquitted her husband.

Judicial Magistrate, Paramakudi, the trial court, had sentenced the woman’s husband to six months of imprisonment for the offence under Section 498-A of IPC.

Justice L. Victoria Gowri observed that marriage, in the Indian ethos, has long been revered as a sacrament, a sacred bond sanctified by tradition and endurance. But the sanctity of marriage does not lie in one-sided submission or silent suffering. The true essence of that sacrament lies in mutual respect, companionship, and compassion.

The court observed that the case stands as a solemn reminder of the unseen sufferings of women, particularly those of advanced years who have spent their entire lives enduring indignities, humiliation, and deprivation in the name of preserving family honour and marital sanctity. The victim in the case, now an octogenarian, is emblematic of that generation of Indian women who bore persistent mental and emotional cruelty with stoic silence, hoping that endurance was their virtue and tolerance their duty. Such misplaced endurance, often glorified in societal narratives, has emboldened generations of men to exercise control, dominance, and neglect under the garb of patriarchal privilege.

It is high time that men in this land unlearn this inherited dogma that marriage entitles them to unquestioned authority and begin to understand that the comfort, safety, needs, and dignity of their wives are not secondary duties but core obligations of the marital bond, especially in their twilight years, the court observed.

The court cannot be a mute spectator to the continuing subjugation of elderly women who, after decades of service, sacrifice, and loyalty, are left to face cruelty and abandonment within their own homes. When the law of the land through Section 498 A IPC extends its protective mantle to women, it does so not merely to punish, but to awaken social conscience. The conviction of an octogenarian husband in the case is not an act of vengeance but an assertion of the principle that age cannot sanctify cruelty, and that no marital bond can justify indignity, the court observed.

The endurance of women, particularly elderly wives, should no longer be mistaken for consent, nor their silence for acceptance. The Indian marriage system, while rooted in noble ideals, must evolve from the shadow of male chauvinism into the light of equality and mutual respect, the court observed.

Protecting octogenarian women who have lived entire lifetimes within oppressive domestic environments is not merely an act of legal redress, but a reaffirmation of the constitutional promise of dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution. It is a tribute to those women who, despite their frailty, stand before the courts seeking not revenge, but recognition of their suffering and restoration of their dignity, the court observed.

The court views the conviction of the accused not through the lens of age, but through the prism of accountability. Cruelty, when persistent and deliberate, corrodes the very sanctity of marriage. The law must intervene, not to dismantle the institution, but to purify it of its inequities, the court observed. The court also directed the woman’s husband and son to continue to pay a monthly maintenance of ₹20,000 to the woman.