Infidelity claims against spouse worst kind of cruelty: Delhi HC

The court made the observation while hearing a plea filed by a man against the family court's October 2017 order

The Delhi high court has held that leveling allegations of infidelity against the spouse coupled with denial of paternity and legitimacy of children amounts to the worst form of insult and mental cruelty of the gravest kind.

The court made the observation while hearing a plea filed by a man against the family court's October 2017 order rejecting his petition for divorce on grounds of cruelty.

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The family court, while dismissing the man's plea, had remarked he made serious allegations against his wife's character and declined the parentage of his two children.

The court had held that the allegations of unchastity and "indecent familiarity with a person outside wedlock" constitute a grave assault on the character, honour, reputation, status and mental health of the spouse.

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The court was of the view that marriage is a relationship that flourishes when nurtured with absolute trust and compassion, it whittles down when sprinkled with accusations of character and becomes beyond redemption when the allegations are topped with refusing to accept own children.

In the petition before the high court, the man represented through advocate Juhi Arora denied the parentage of his son and daughter asserting that his wife was in an illicit relationship with many men. The man also said that his wife intoxicated him when he went to meet her in Bhiwani and later made a false claim saying that he had "taken advantage of her". The man, in his petition, said that his wife later coerced him into marrying her claiming she was pregnant, but later denied her pregnancy.

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Upholding the family court's order, the high court bench took note of the fact the man had no evidence of his wife's infidelity, something he admitted to during cross-examination.

"Such deplorable allegations and repudiation of the matrimonial bond and refusal to accept the children, who are innocent victims in the vile allegations made by the appellant, is nothing but the act of mental cruelty of the gravest kind," the bench in the 13-page verdict released on Thursday said.

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"Marriage is a relationship which flourishes when nurtured with absolute trust and compassion and a healthy relationship never demands the sacrifice of one's dignity. Inevitably, it whittles down when sprinkled with accusations on character, fidelity and chastity of the spouse and becomes beyond redemption when the devastating effects of this one-sided barrage of accusations is topped with rejection of paternity and legitimacy of the innocent children, by their own father," said a bench of justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna said in April 22 verdict.

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