False Sec 498-A case amounts to cruelty, ground for divorce: HC

Source – indianexpress.com

Noting that a woman who filed a false criminal complaint against her husband, which led him to being jailed for seven days, would constitute a clear case of cruelty by the wife against her husband, the Bombay High Court upheld the divorce granted to the husband on grounds of cruelty. The High Court was hearing a revision petition filed by the wife against a Family Court order which had granted divorce to her husband on the grounds of cruelty and desertion in May 2008.

“No interference is called for with the order of the Family Court in allowing the petition for divorce of the husband on the ground of cruelty. However, as far as the ground of desertion is concerned, we are not in agreement with the Family Court,” said a Bench of Justice A S Oka and Justice A A Sayed.

The couple lived in the same building, and after falling in love, got married under Christian rites in December 1987. At the time, the man was an electrical contractor and the woman was working as a clerk at a school in Bandra. They had two daughters.

According to the woman, her husband left their home on his own accord on the night of January 3, 2005. She has admitted in her cross-examination that she filed a complaint against her husband, who was arrested from Goa from his parents’ house on January 10, 2005, and brought to Mumbai. He was in jail for seven days before being granted bail.

“She has admitted in her cross-examination that her relationship with her husband’s family was cordial till the time she had filed a complaint under Section 498-A (being subjected to cruelty) against her husband which led to his arrest in Goa. In our view, the act of the wife in lodging a false criminal complaint under Section 498-A against her husband, which led to the police arresting him from his parent’s house at Goa, was sufficient in itself to grant decree for dissolution of marriage to the husband on the ground of cruelty by the wife,” held the court.

Meanwhile, the husband in his petition stated that his wife was of a suspicious nature and doubted his character and had made his life miserable. She accused him of having illicit relationships with several people.

“We find that the claim of the wife, despite various serious allegations made against her husband including that of having extra-marital affairs, that she wants her husband to come and stay with her is not at all bonafide. She has made wild allegations against her husband which she has not been able to substantiate. Having regard to the facts, we are unable to brush aside the case of the husband that due to the behaviour and conduct of his wife, he was fed up with life and despite having a job, he decided to take voluntary retirement and settle in Goa with his parents. In our opinion, the husband has been subjected to mental cruelty at the hands of his wife,” said the court.

Meanwhile, taking into account evidence on record, the court held that the husband himself is not interested in living with his wife after he was thrown out of the matrimonial home by his wife, as he claims, in January 2005 and after his wife had filed the FIR. “In these circumstances, there was no justification for the Family Court to have granted a decree for dissolution of marriage on grounds of desertion,” added the Bench.

The court also refused to grant maintenance to the wife. “It is an admitted position that the wife is having her own source of income from the matrimonial house at Bandra which is given on leave and licence and that since April 2005, she is exclusively occupying the flat at Thane belonging to her husband, the wife would not be entitled to maintenance as prayed by her from her husband,” observed the High Court.