The Delhi High Court has observed a husband living with another woman, after long years of separation from his wife with no possibility of re-union even during an ongoing divorce petition, cannot disentitle him from obtaining a divorce on proven grounds of cruelty by the wife.
A division bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Neena Bansal Krishna said that the allegations of cruelty made by the wife in criminal cases should be substantiated in divorce proceedings.
The bench added that frequently made complaints against the husband without explanation to allegations to various agencies cannot be termed as anything but cruelty.
The Court made the observation while upholding a family court order granting divorce to the husband on the ground of cruelty by the wife under Section 13 (1) (ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
Dismissing the wife’s appeal, the bench said that while the parties got married in December 2003, it turned to be a bed of rocks instead of happiness; from the very first day.
The husband contended that his wife was a quarrelsome nature and she did not show respect even to his relatives visiting his home rarely. She also shied from doing the household chores. In the background, the bench noted that the wife’s quarrelsome nature had got manifested during the court proceedings that took place back in 2011 in an FIR registered by her. Through this, she had threatened the husband and his family members to send them jail and kill him as well.
The Court said, “It has been rightly argued that a person who does not shy in threatening and quarreling with the respondent-husband and his family members in the open Court, her conduct as deposed by the appellant-wife at the matrimonial home can very well be accepted. These incidents clearly prove that the appellant-wife and her family members were quarrelsome and the appellant-wife had inflicted physical cruelty upon the respondent-husband.“
Since the husband claimed that the wife denied a conjugal relationship to him, the Court said that there was no serious rebuttal of the said testimony which reflects that there was the breakdown of the conjugal relationship which is the bedrock of any matrimonial or marital relationship.
The bench further noted that the wife also made a complaint after filing of the Divorce Petition by the husband in 2007 and that the FIR under Section 498A of IPC was registered after a prolonged time of separation of the parties.
The Court also said, “It is no doubt true that every person has a right to seek remedy by resorting to the State machinery and simpliciter filing a complaint under Section 498-A IPC would not amount to cruelty, but it cannot be overlooked that various allegations of cruelty had been made by the appellant-wife against the respondent-husband which have not been proved by her in the present proceedings. Even in the criminal trial, the respondent-husband and his family members have been acquitted.“
While the wife made allegation on the husband that he had got married, the court said that neither any specific details nor any proof whatsoever of the alleged second marriage was provided by her in the complaints she made against her husband.
The Court also said, “Even if it is accepted that the respondent-husband has started living with another woman and has two sons during the pendency of Divorce Petition, that in itself, cannot be termed as cruelty in the peculiar circumstances of this case when the parties have not been co-habiting since 2005.“
It further added, “As such long years of separation with no possibility of re-union, the respondent-husband may have found his peace and comfort by living with another woman, but, that is a subsequent event during the pendency of the Divorce Petition and cannot disentitle the husband from divorce from the wife on the proven grounds of cruelty.“
News Source: https://www.livelaw.in/high-court/delhi-high-court/delhi-high-court-wife-cruelty-husband-living-with-another-woman-divorce-237815