Divorce to husband on ground of cruelty after wife creates her profile on matrimonial website, levels false allegations -Bombay High Court

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The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court allowed a divorce plea by a husband on the ground of cruelty by wife after she levelled fake allegations against him and uploaded her profile on matrimonial websites during the pendency of divorce proceedings.

A Division Bench of Justices AS Chandurkar and GA Sanap held that the wife’s wild and unfounded allegations, as well as her conscious decision to remarry during the pendency of the divorce petition by uploading her profile on two matrimonial websites, were enough to prove that the appellant-husband suffered mental cruelty.

The High Court relied on the following judgments.

In Dr. (Mrs.) Malathi Ravi, M.D. vs. Dr. B. V. Ravi, M.D, it was held that if the wife has no intention to lead a normal life, then on the ground of mental cruelty the decree for divorce can be granted. It was further held that the false allegations by one spouse against the other amounts to mental cruelty.

In Vishwanath S/o. Sitaram Agrawal vs.Sarla Vishwanath Agrawal, the Supreme Court had held that mental torture caused by one spouse to the another by making wild and false allegations in a report lodged to the authority as well as in the electronic and print media constitute a mental cruelty and as such the ground for divorce.

In V Bhagat vs. Mrs. D. Bhagat, the Court found that mental cruelty in Section 131 (i-a) can broadly be defined as that conduct which inflicts upon the other party such mental pain and suffering as would make it impossible for that party to live with the other. It is held that the mental cruelty must be of such a nature that the parties cannot reasonably be expected to live together.