The Bombay High Court dismissed the plea of a 50 year old widow and made a statement that slandering her husband’s image with allegations like womaniser and alcoholic without proof is cruelty.
A division bench of Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Sharmila Deshmukh reviewed the petition, challenging the 2005 orders of a Pune Family Court, allowing divorce to a husband. Notably, the husband, a retired Major in the Army, filed for divorce citing mental agony and suffering by his wife, which also damaged his reputation with false and baseless allegations. The woman claimed that her husband, a retired Major with the Indian Army, was a womaniser and alcoholic due to which she was deprived of her conjugal rights. The Pune Court claimed the woman has no evidence to prove her allegations but granted the divorce to the Pune based couple.
After the 2005 November Judgement, the woman moved the Bombay High Court, challenging the Pune court’s verdict. However, the Bombay High Court upheld the judgement of the Pune Family Court and said the man, who died while the matter was pending with the Bombay High Court, was entitled to the divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act 1955. As of now, the legal heirs of the late husband are representing his case.
During the court proceedings, the late husband’s lawyer informed the court that the petitioner had caused mental agony by making such false and defamatory allegations against him. The lawyer also informed that the woman was unable to prove her allegations and presented no evidence, besides her statement.
After hearing the statements from both the parties, the Bombay HC bench in the order said, the woman’s conduct in making such unwarranted and false allegations against her husband’s character resulted in damaging his reputation in society and amounted to “cruelty.” Besides her own statements against her husband, the woman could not produce any evidence to substantiate her allegations, including from her own sister, especially since he was an ex Army officer belonging to the upper strata with standing in society.
The bench further said, “The bench also referred to the husband’s deposition in the family court in which he stated that his wife had separated him from his children and grandchildren, and how her “unwarranted, false, and baseless” allegations resulted in shredding his reputation in the society.”
The orders read, “Cruelty is broadly defined as a conduct that inflicts upon the other party such mental pain and suffering to make it impossible for them to live with each other, and it was a fit case for granting the divorce.”
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