GUWAHATI: The Delhi High Court recently held that a father’s refusal to accept the legitimacy/paternity of children and making unverified allegations of extra-marital affair against wife is an act of mental cruelty against the wife.
A division bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna referred to a Supreme Court judgement and said that such allegations constitute grave assault on character, honour and reputation and is the worst form of cruelty.
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“Such unsubstantiated assertions, being of a quality which causes mental pain, agony and suffering are sufficient by itself, to amount to the reformulated concept of cruelty in matrimonial law,” the Court said.
It, therefore, upheld a family court’s decision rejecting the husband's plea for divorce and rejected the man's appeal against the same.
“The learned Family Judge has rightly observed that levelling of disgusting allegations of unchastity and indecent familiarity with a person outside wedlock and allegations of extra marital relationship constitute grave assault on the character, honour, reputation, status as well as mental health of the spouse. Such scandalous, unsubstantiated aspersions of perfidiousness attributed to the spouse and not even sparing the children, would amount to worst form of insult and cruelty, sufficient by disentitle the appellant from seeking divorce. This is one case where the appellant has himself committed the wrong and cannot be granted the benefit of divorce,” the High Court said.
The husband had claimed that the wife coerced him into marriage by falsely claiming she was pregnant after initiating sexual relations with him when he was intoxicated. He also accused her of threatening to commit suicide and having illicit relationships with multiple men.
After considering the case, the Court rejected the allegations made by the husband. It noted that the appellant, after having left his service, failed to take responsibility of the family and the wife was left to not only suffer the financial burden, but had to struggle to take care of the children and the household responsibilities.
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The Court ruled that the husband was not able to prove any of his allegations made against the wife. “As discussed above, it is the respondent who has been subjected to cruelty and not the appellant.”
The Court, therefore, dismissed the plea.