“Infidelity, irrespective of gender, causes mental cruelty”, Delhi High Court

In a recent judgment, the Delhi High Court’s Division Bench of Pradeep Nandrajog and Yogesh Khanna JJ held that an act of infidelity by either spouse, irrespective of gender, is on equal footing..The judgment arises out of a case filed for the annulment of marriage and grant of divorce. The husband had approached the Delhi High Court against the Family Court order, which had dismissed his petition seeking a divorce from his wife on the grounds of cruelty and desertion..The husband had claimed that his wife had leveled baseless allegations of having extra-marital affairs with different women, which amounted to cruelty. In this regard, the Family Court judge held,.“It has come over the record that the petitioner himself had been indifferent towards the respondent. He did not offer any explanation to the respondent as to why the girls/women had been calling him. In such circumstances, she would have thought that the petitioner had extra-marital relations with other girls/women. .Moreover, the allegations made against the husband do not in terms of mental torture and agony necessarily have a similar impact. The reason why a false charge of unchastity against the wife is viewed seriously, is because of the high moral ground of which the fidelity and commitment of Hindu wives is placed towards the husbands. .A false allegation of infidelity made against the husband can be treated as mental torture only if such torture is proved as a fact. The social milieu in which the parties live, their value system and outlook also assume importance in such a situation.” [Emphasis added].The Division Bench observed that the findings of the Family Court judge proceeded on the assumption that because the husband was in touch with several women over the phone, he was indifferent towards his wife..Declaring the judgment “perverse” and “contrary to law”, Justices Nandrajog and Khanna held,.“A gender bias approach to the issue is revealed, when the learned Judge reasons that unchastity by a wife is to be viewed seriously because a higher level of fidelity is expected from a wife. An allegation of infidelity made against the husband cannot be treated as mental torture..An act of infidelity by either spouse, irrespective of the gender is on an equal footing and would cause mental cruelty to the other spouse with the same intensity. The assumption by the learned Judge that the respondent has established the appellant being in touch with many women is incorrect, for the reason it was an allegation made by the respondent against the appellant and she had to prove the same.”.Not convinced by the wife’s testimony that her husband was in touch with many women through his phone, the bench held,.“The deposition of the facts by the respondent [the wife] is contrary to human conduct and does not satisfy the test of reason. Her deposition is not convincing and therefore the stand of the respondent that the marriage between the parties remained cold due to the appellant being more interested in other women is not established.”.Therefore, the Family Court order was set aside and the appeal was allowed, granting the decree of divorce in favour of the husband..Read the full judgment here.