Extra-marital affairs of a man and his wife's suspicion do not always amount to mental cruelty attracting the provision of abetment to suicide but can be a ground for grant of divorce, the Supreme Court said on Thursday.

"To explicate, solely because the husband is involved in an extra-marital relationship and there is some suspicion in the mind of wife, that cannot be regarded as mental cruelty which would attract mental cruelty for satisfying the ingredients of Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of IPC," the bench said.

"To explicate, solely because the husband is involved in an extra-marital relationship and there is some suspicion in the mind of wife, that cannot be regarded as mental cruelty which would attract mental cruelty for satisfying the ingredients of Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of IPC," the bench said.