India, May 27 -- The Bombay High Court has observed that marriage is a partnership of equals and cannot be treated like a service contract, while ruling that a wife cannot be expected to perform household chores as a legal duty amounting to marital obligation.

A bench of Justice Bharati Dangre and Justice Manjusha Deshpande held that a wife's inability or refusal to cook or clean cannot, by itself, be considered "mental cruelty" under the law.

"Marriage is a partnership of equals. It is not a service contract or an employment agreement, and a wife is not a maid," the court observed, while dismissing the husband's claim for divorce on grounds of cruelty.

The court clarified that routine disagreements and adjustments between spouses in t...