Delhi HC grants divorce to man, says family court erred in ignoring false, defamatory accusations

New Delhi: Setting aside a family court order, the Delhi High Court has granted divorce to a man citing extreme cruelty by the wife.

Making serious and unsubstantiated allegations against the husband and waging a legal war against him and his family members amounted to extreme cruelty towards the spouse, it observed.

A division bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna granted divorce to the man under Section 13(1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and set aside the family court's dismissal of his divorce petition.

Married in 1998, the couple had two sons together. However, they had been living separately since 2006.

The husband alleged that the wife had displayed rude, insulting, and derogatory behaviour toward his family members.

He also claimed that in 2006, the wife attempted suicide with the intent to implicate him and his family members.

The court noted that the wife had made serious allegations, including the husband's alleged illicit relationship with another woman, but failed to provide any evidence to substantiate these claims.

While every aggrieved person has the right to initiate legal action, it is the responsibility of the wife to establish that she was subjected to cruelty by presenting cogent evidence, it stated.

The court said: "Though filing of a criminal complaint per-se cannot amount to cruelty, however, such grave and indecent allegations of cruelty should be substantiated during the divorce proceedings, and in the present case, the respondent has neither substantiated her allegations nor justified her conduct."

The bench concluded that the family court had erred in ignoring the overwhelming evidence of false and defamatory accusations and numerous legal actions initiated by the wife against the husband and his family members, which clearly established acts of cruelty. Therefore, the high court granted the divorce under the grounds of cruelty.