New Delhi, Nov. 4 -- The Supreme Court has held that a husband calling his wife "stupid" and "useless" cannot, by itself, constitute an offence of cruelty or criminal intimidation, cautioning courts against giving a criminal colour to temperamental differences between spouses without specific evidence of harassment or abuse.

Quashing criminal proceedings against a man whose wife died by suicide after jumping from the 22nd floor of their apartment in Toronto, Canada, the court said that a spouse's short temper or habit of scolding the other over trivial issues cannot automatically be equated with criminal conduct or made the basis for holding the person responsible for the suicide.

"The allegation that the appellant used to call the dece...