Delhi High Court
The High Court has stated that making baseless allegations against a husband and his family and trapping him in a legal battle is an extreme cruelty against him. Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna quashed the Family Court’s order along with this comment and granted a divorce to the husband on the basis of cruelty by the wife under Section 13(1)(i-a) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
The bench has mentioned that making serious and unfounded allegations like this and involving the husband and his family members in a legal battle clearly demonstrates the retaliatory nature of the appellant/wife. This is equivalent to extreme cruelty towards the appellant/husband. The couple got married in 1998 and had two sons from this marriage. They were living separately since 2006. The husband had challenged the order of the Family Court, which had dismissed his divorce petition. The court had stated that he had failed to prove the allegations of cruelty by the wife. He had refused to grant a divorce.
The husband had claimed that the wife’s behavior towards his family members was indecent, disrespectful, and insulting. In 2006, the wife had attempted suicide by pouring kerosene, allegedly with the intention of trapping him and his family members.
While granting relief to the husband, the bench noted that the wife had made serious allegations that the husband had an extramarital relationship with another woman, but she could not prove it. According to the records, she had made serious allegations of having an extramarital relationship with the appellant/husband on several occasions but failed to prove any of them.
The bench stated that the above complaints and cases clearly indicate that the respondent/wife had made reprehensible allegations of engaging in an extramarital relationship with a third woman. She had also accused the appellant/husband’s brother of sexual assault.
In addition, she had also alleged dowry harassment. None of these allegations could be substantiated. Furthermore, the bench stated that every aggrieved person has the right to initiate legal action, and they have the complete right to approach the state machinery.
The wife should have supported her allegations with solid evidence to establish that she had been subjected to cruelty. The bench stated that filing a criminal complaint is not cruelty, but these serious and disgraceful allegations should be proven during the divorce proceedings, and in the current case, the respondent/wife has neither substantiated her allegations nor justified her behavior.
