False Allegations of Husband’s Affair with Colleague Constitute Mental Cruelty: Calcutta High Court

Post By 24law
February 12, 2025

Pranav B Prem

In a significant ruling, the Calcutta High Court has held that reckless allegations of an extra-marital affair with a colleague made by a wife against her husband amount to mental cruelty, thereby entitling the husband to seek divorce. A division bench comprising Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Justice Uday Kumar allowed the husband’s appeal for divorce on grounds of cruelty, overturning the family court’s decision that had denied him relief. The Court observed that the marriage had “broken down irretrievably” due to the wife’s baseless allegations and persistent legal harassment.

Baseless Allegations and Mental Cruelty

The Court took strong note of the fact that the wife had accused her husband of an illicit relationship with a female colleague, despite having no evidence to support the claim. It observed: “Mere friendship between the husband and his office colleague and the closeness between such friends at the time of the husband’s surgery (during which he was having constant conflict at home with the respondent/wife and was under the guillotine of a pending criminal case at the instance of the wife) being perceived to be an illicit sexual relationship between them by the wife is unacceptable and, in the context of non-corroboration by any independent witness, must be held to be baseless in the present context.” The Court further stated that reckless and unfounded allegations against a spouse can amount to mental cruelty of such magnitude that “the parties cannot reasonably be expected to live together and endure such agony throughout the rest of their lives.”

Legal Battle and Multiple Criminal Complaints

The case arose from an appeal filed by the husband against the family court’s decision denying him divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. The petitioner contended that his wife had filed multiple criminal cases against him and his family members, accusing them of dowry-related torture and adultery, without any reasonable basis. These cases, he argued, had subjected him to extreme mental trauma and damaged his reputation in society.

The High Court noted that the wife had lodged several police complaints over the years, some of which were later withdrawn, only to be revived again. The Court observed:“The repetitive nature of the police complaints are evident from the dates of lodging of such complaints, which continued throughout the pendency of the divorce suit as well.” Significantly, the Court also remarked that the wife had admitted in her evidence that she wanted to live with her husband, yet continued to file criminal complaints against him and his family, an act that was seen as a “tactic to pressurize the husband.”

Judicial Observations on Dowry and False Allegations

The Court pointed out a glaring contradiction in the wife’s claims—while she alleged dowry harassment in her criminal complaints, she did not raise such a claim in her written statement or evidence in the divorce case. This, the Court said, suggested that the accusations in the criminal cases were baseless. “The wife has failed to furnish any reasonable basis of the criminal complaints, which might have serious consequences, not only of a penal nature but also damaging the husband’s reputation in society beyond repair.” The Court further found that the wife had filed these complaints “as a tool to compel her husband to return to her” and that sustaining such a marriage would only prolong their suffering.

Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage

Highlighting the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage, the Court noted that the parties had been living separately for more than a decade and that forcing them to continue in such a marriage would be “detrimental to both parties and amount to cruelty.” The Court observed: “The morbid stench of a dead marriage is writ large over the entire relationship of the parties, as borne out by the materials on record, and further sustenance of such marriage would lead them nowhere, apart from binding the parties forcibly to an ever-irreconcilable and illusory bond which has spent its force since long.”

Final Verdict

In light of these findings, the High Court set aside the family court’s order and granted the husband a decree of divorce, dissolving the marriage. The Court clarified that the wife could still file for permanent alimony and that the husband should continue to provide for their daughter’s welfare.