NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has observed that false allegations of 'illicit relationship' are the 'ultimate kind of cruelty' as it completely breaks the trust between the couple. The observation came as it dismissed a women’s appeal in a divorce case which was allowed by a family court.
A family court in 2019 allowed the divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 on the grounds of the wife’s 'mental cruelty' against her husband. The woman approached the high court alleging her husband was having illicit relations with another woman.
A division bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Neena Bansal Krishna said no evidence was led to establish that the husband ever had any illicit relationship and that it was almost like a 'final nail in the matrimonial relationship.'
“False allegations of illicit relationship are the ultimate kind of cruelty as it reflects a complete breakdown of trust among the spouses,” said the HC court in the order. The couple married in March 2009 and had a daughter. The husband complained that he was subjected to various acts of cruelty by the wife. She left the matrimonial home in March 2016, he said.
The court said as per the husband’s claim, his wife also tried to commit suicide by jumping off the balcony, which 'squarely amounts to mental cruelty.'
The bedrock of a matrimonial relationship is the conjugal relationship of which co-habitation has a strong basis. There is no reason to disbelieve the husband’s testimony that his wife used to go away for 15-30 days without informing the husband and that she also withheld herself from cohabitation,” the court said.