Bombay HC Rules Wife Filing False Cases Entitles Husband For A Divorce On Grounds Of 'Cruelty'

1/11/2025 10:13:14 AM

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Bombay High Court has recently ruled that a wife filing false complaints against her husband and in-laws in an attempt to correct his behaviour constitutes cruelty within marital relations.

The ruling comes as Bombay High Court's division bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Advait Sethna refused to interfere with the decision of a Family Court, which while granting divorce to a couple noted the fact that the wife had lodged a false case against the husband and his family members, which caused them mental cruelty, reported LiveLaw.

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The report said the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court added that once there is a dent to such essential values (of marital relationship), on the foundation of which a marriage rests, by a false and draconian action of a criminal prosecution being resorted by either spouse, it is in the realm of cruelty which would be a ground for divorce under Section 13(1)(i-a) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

"Thus, such actions on the part of the wife of resorting to a false prosecution, was certainly a sufficient ground, entitling the husband for a divorce on the ground of cruelty. The principles of law in this regard are well settled," Livelaw quoted the ruling.

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In a case where a wife lodged multiple complaints against her husband, the court dismissed her plea, stating that such actions are not acceptable in a healthy marital relationship.

The judges highlighted that resorting to false accusations undermines the very foundation of trust and respect that should exist between spouses.

The ruling came as the Bombay HC heard a plea by a 36-year-old divorced woman seeking restitution of conjugal rights with ex-husband with whom she had lived for eight years.

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