False allegations, constant threat of police action amount to cruelty entitling husband to divorce: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court recently observed that levelling false allegations and giving constant threats of police action and criminal trial amounts to mental cruelty and is a ground for divorce..A division bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna further held that where there has been a long period of continuous separation, it can be surmised that the matrimonial bond is beyond repair and that marriage has become a fiction which is only supported by a legal tie.“By refusing to sever that tie the law in such cases does not serve the sanctity of marriage; on the contrary, it shows scant regard for the feelings and emotions of the parties,” the Court observed.The Court, therefore, allowed the plea filed by a man seeking divorce.A family court had earlier rejected his plea leading to the appeal before the High Court..It was informed that the couple got married in 2002 and had two children. They started living separately in 2007.The woman had levelled several allegations against her husband’s family including demands of dowry and that her father-in-law tried to rape her..After considering the case, the Court said that allegations of rape, on the face of it, appeared to be false as there were multiple instances where the parties went to the police station when this incident never found any mention.The bench said that once the marriage has broken down beyond repair, it would be unrealistic for the law not to take notice of the fact, and it would be harmful to society and injurious to the interests of the parties.“The court, no doubt, should seriously make an endeavour to reconcile the parties; yet, if it is found that the breakdown is irreparable, then divorce should not be withheld. The consequences of preservation in law of the unworkable marriage which has long ceased to be effective are bound to be a source of greater misery for the parties," the Court said..The Court further opined that the family court ought to have visualised that the preservation of such a marriage is totally unworkable and that it would be a greater source of misery for the parties.“We conclude that in the present case; the parties are living separately for 17 years now; there is no chance of reconciliation between the parties and such long separation peppered which false allegations, Police reports and criminal trial has become a source of mental cruelty and any insistence to continue this relationship would only be inflicting further cruelty upon both the parties. The marital discord between the parties has pinnacled where there is a complete loss of faith, trust, understanding and love between the parties. The parties cannot be reasonably expected to live with each other anymore.”.The bench, therefore, dissolved the marriage by a decree of divorce under Sections 13(1)(ia) and 13(1)(ib) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1956..Advocates Ranjit Kumar Dubey and Piyush Nagpal appeared for the appellant-husband.Advocate Praduman Kumar Aggarwal represented the wife. .[Read Judgment]