Falsely Accusing Spouse of Infidelity Is Mental Cruelty: Delhi HC
The Delhi High Court in a recent ruling has stated that accusing your partner falsely of infidelity is the gravest form of cruelty. In case of false accusation, where you accuse your spouse of having extramarital relationships and refuse them parenthood of their children is a grave form of mental cruelty.
A Division Bench including Justices Neena Bansal Krishna and Suresh Kumar Kait shared their judgement, sustaining a decision made by a family court to reject a husband’s request for a divorce based on cruelty by his wife.
As per the court, bringing false and baseless accusations against a spouse, specifically about fidelity and character, and thereby rejecting the legitimacy of the children can cause severe mental damage and grave anguish. Such acts of cruelty damage the marriage in an irreparable manner.
Observations Made By The Bench:
- The Bench declares that these acts are the worst form of humiliation, cruelty, and insult.
- It was observed by the Bench that the accused has not seen any compromising situations, that he claims against his wife.
- Further, the appellant was observed to have adamant and persistent doubts about the respondent’s morality.
- The appellant has made reprehensible and unsubstantiated accusations against the respondent’s character.
- He also claimed that the respondent was having an illicit relationship with more than one person in the court.
- The Bench disqualifies the accused from getting a divorce.
The Legal Proceedings:
The spouse was chastised by the judges for his demeaning and unrelenting accusations, which also targeted the innocent children by expressing grave doubts about their legitimacy. The appellant went on to openly deny his parentage in a very unsubstantiated manner during cross-examination.
He said that he could not trust the fact that the children belonged to him. The bench observed that heinous allegations like these on innocent victims amount to severe mental cruelty.
The Court further stated that the husband’s allegations of a wife are a serious assault on his wife’s honour, character, and mental health. It also shared its views that this act has been shocking because unproven accusations of the spouse’s perfidiousness and his kids are enough to bar the appellant from getting a divorce.
It was mentioned that he made a general and vague accusation about threats concerning suicide and their potential relation to criminal subject matters. It was noticed that he had made general and imprecise claims about suicide threats and their implication for criminal proceedings.
The respondent has been the victim of cruelty, not the appellant. Citing the husband’s inability to provide valid evidence for his allegations and his brutal role in family life, the Bench concluded that it was his wife who was suffering cruelty and respected her choice to refuse a divorce.
