NEW DELHI: Nothing can be more cruel than denying paternity of one’s own child, the Delhi High Court observed on Wednesday while upholding divorce granted to a man on the ground of cruelty by a family court.
The bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Neena Bansal Krishna were hearing the case of an estranged couple living separately for more than 10 years.
As per the case, the couple got married in April 2012 and a child was born in November 2013. Differences cropped up between the couple immediately after marriage and the woman left her matrimonial home in April 2013.
The woman had filed criminal cases, including those of cruelty and dowry harassment, against her husband and inlaws but was unable to justify any of the allegations of cruelty raised against the man and his family members, the high court noted.
The woman in the case approached the high court with an appeal challenging the divorce. The high court said there was no error in the conclusion that the acts of the wife clearly amounted to cruelty towards the husband and his family members which entitled him to divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act.
However, the bench was critical about the man’s behaviour towards his wife when she informed him through a text message about her pregnancy.
It noted that after the woman left her matrimonial home, she informed the man about her pregnancy in response to which he wrote a message denying the paternity of the child. “As observed by the learned Judge, Family Courts, nothing could have been more cruel than denying paternity of own child. No doubt, the conduct of the respondent was not only unreasonable but had the underlying aspersion about the character of the appellant,” the high court noted.
The court said her conduct of resorting to criminal litigations reflected her unwillingness to reconcile but to harrass the man and his family.