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Whether bringing second wife amounts to cruelty on first wif

Whether bringing second wife amounts to cruelty on first wife within meaning of S 498A of IPC?

There is one more allegation which, according to prosecution,
is quite serious and which, if proved, would require consideration from
this Court for evaluating its impact on the conduct of the complainant.
This allegation is about bringing a second wife to his house by respondent
No.1. I must say it here that it is not every type of misconduct that has
been made punishable under section 498A of I.P.C. Cruelty has been
defined in section 498A to mean any willful conduct of such a nature as is
likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or
danger to life, limb or physical or mental health of the woman or
harassment of the woman made with a view to coercing her or any person
related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable
security. So, it is clear that only those acts committed willfully and which
are in the nature of degrading treatment which qualify to be termed as
cruelty in law. In other words, cruelty is a conduct designed to produce
definite result in relation to physical or mental condition of a woman. In
order that the conduct is called willful, it must have been such as could be
said to be indulged in by the accused with an intention to cause or with
the knowledge that it is likely to cause degrading or humiliating or
injurious effect on the mind or conduct of the woman. It involves acts the
result of which causes hurt and oftentimes agony to the opposite party, be
it mental or physical, which in turn has further damaging consequences,
the most serious of which is an ultimate suicide, as held in the case of

Madhuri Mukund Chitnis v. Mukund Martand Chitnis, 1992 CRI.L.J.
111. Thus, the condemned act called cruelty must be accompanied by
mens rea. Having said so, it has to be seen whether the allegation that
the accused No.1 had brought one stranger lady to his house at Pune and
announced not only to the complainant but also to her father and uncle
that the stranger was his second wife was reasonably established or not.
Even if this allegation is proved, the matter would not end there, as it
cannot be presumed in every case that such conduct of husband would
create such an adverse impact on the mind of the wife as is sufficient to
drive her to commit suicide or cause grave injury to herself and hence a
willful conduct. There are instances where a second wife has been
accepted by first wife willingly or unwillingly but surely without losing
balance of mind by causing any injury to herself. So all depends on the
facts and circumstances of each case. The evidence as regards the said
allegation, therefore, needs to be assessed in the light of the law so
discussed.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 571 OF 2001
State of Maharashtra. ... Appellant.
V/s.
Sanjiv Bhimrao Kamble.

CORAM : S.B. SHUKRE, J.
DATED : 28th October 2015.
Citation: 2016 ALLMR(CRI)2058