Ahmedabad Couple’s Onion-Garlic Spat Ends In Divorce; Wife’s Appeal Dismissed

9th December 2025 at 3:47 PM

1 minute read

The Gujarat high court has dismissed the wife's appeal challenging the dissolution of the marriage.

Ahmedabad : A divorce case from Ahmedabad has received public attention after an 11-year marriage broke down over a long-running dispute involving onion and garlic. The couple, married in 2002, initially had no issues with their differing dietary choices. Now, the Gujarat high court has dismissed the wife’s appeal challenging the dissolution of the marriage. The wife, a devoted follower of the Swaminarayan sect, strictly avoided onion and garlic as part of her religious practice.

Her husband and mother-in-law, however, continued consuming them. The divide in their meals slowly turned into a divide in their relationship. Separate cooking arrangements became the norm, and tension started to grow within the household. As domestic disagreements intensified, the marriage deteriorated. The wife eventually left her marital home with their child. In 2013, the husband approached the Ahmedabad Family Court seeking divorce, claiming that his wife’s refusal to compromise on food habits had amounted to cruelty and abandonment.

The family court granted the divorce and directed him to pay maintenance. The case proceeded to the Gujarat High Court after the wife challenged the family court’s order. Her lawyer argued that the husband had exaggerated the impact of her religious dietary restrictions, while the husband maintained that the consumption of onion and garlic had become a persistent source of conflict. He claimed that despite efforts by him and his mother, who even prepared food without onions and garlic for her, the dispute continued. He also stated that he had once filed a complaint at a women’s police station due to ongoing tensions.

During the High Court hearing, the wife eventually said she no longer opposed the divorce. The husband, in turn, agreed to deposit the unpaid maintenance amount in instalments with the court. With mutual consent emerging at that stage, the High Court dismissed the wife’s petition and upheld the divorce.