As per case facts, the appellant-husband filed a divorce petition in 2014, alleging cruelty and desertion by the respondent-wife since their marriage in 2007. He claimed they had been living ... separately since 2008. The wife had also initiated criminal proceedings against him and his family, leading to the husband's eventual acquittal on appeal. The trial court dismissed the divorce petition, prompting the husband's appeal to the High Court, arguing that the long separation and unworkable marriage amount to cruelty. The question arose whether long separation, rendering the marital bond unworkable and beyond repair, constitutes mental cruelty. Finally, the High Court held that the nearly 17-year separation and failed mediation indicate the marriage is beyond repair. Compelling the parties to stay together would cause mental cruelty. Thus, the appeal was allowed, and the marriage was dissolved.