The recent ruling by the Punjab and Haryana High Court emphasizes that when a wife falsely accuses her in-laws of sexual assault, it amounts to mental cruelty. Consequently, the husband is justified in seeking divorce on these grounds.
In March of this year, a Division Bench consisting of Justice Sudhir Singh and Justice Harsh Bunger upheld a Sonipat court's decision to grant divorce to a man on the basis of cruelty.
“Levelling the allegations of sexual assault against all the male members of the family and the factum of them having been found innocent during the investigation, clearly amounts to cruelty,” the Court said.
In the appeal filed by the wife, who married the man in 2009, she refuted the accusations of cruelty and asserted that her husband and his family subjected her to harassment and torture due to insufficient dowry. Conversely, the husband contended before the family court that his wife mistreated him and his family from the outset of their marriage, often initiating quarrels over minor issues. Additionally, he accused her of engaging in extramarital affairs.
The Court acknowledged the submissions and highlighted that while the husband had alleged his wife's involvement in an adulterous relationship, no evidence supported this claim. However, the Court also observed that the family court had charged only the husband and mother-in-law based on the wife's complaints of dowry demands and sexual assault.
"The learned family court has, thus, concluded that the baseless allegations of sexual assault against all the male family members of the respondent-husband had amounted to cruelty. It was further found that the appellant-wife in her cross-examination admitted that she had never levelled the allegations of sexual assault against her father-in-law”.
The Court concluded that the in-laws had been subjected to a traumatic situation as a result of the false allegations of sexual assault leveled against them. The false allegations of sexual assault against the husband’s family members, particularly the elderly father-in-law, amounts to mental cruelty, the Court said while dismissing the wife’s appeal against the grant of divorce.
Advocate Sandeep Singh Sangwan represented the appellant-wife.
