Levelling allegations of extra-marital affair without proof amounts to cruelty: Chhattisgarh High Court

The Chhattisgarh High Court recently held that if a spouse levels extra marital affair allegations on his or her partner without any proof, it would amount to cruelty..The High Court further held that if a wife takes loans by pledging ornaments meant for her daughter's wedding without informing the husband, that would also amount to mental cruelty.A bench of Justices Goutam Bhaduri and NK Chandrawanshi was hearing an appeal filed by a husband challenging the orders of a Family Court in Bilaspur, which refused to grant a decree of divorce on his plea on the grounds of cruelty and desertion."It is obvious that to suffer an allegation pertaining to once character of having an extra marital affair is quite tortuous for any person and whereas inconsistently in the statement and only allegation of extra marital affair is raised by the wife casually against the husband certainly which always has a bad impact in image of a person qua the society, therefore, would amount to mental cruelty," the Court held in its order passed on April 5..According to the husband's petition, they had gotten married on January 31, 1986 and on September 15, 2011, his wife started living separately. The husband in his plea alleged that his wife had taken around ₹10 to 12 lakh loan from various persons. He even claimed that the wife, in order to avail the loan, pledged gold ornaments, which the couple had purchased for their daughter's marriage.To buttress his case, the husband examined his son and daughter, who testified that their mother often took hand loans from various persons. They stated that their maternal grandmother often asked financial help from their mother. The husband further examined a person, who had given ₹25,000 loan to his wife.On the other hand, the wife alleged that her husband had an extra marital affair with a woman living in the neighborhood. She further alleged that because of this affair, her husband drove her out of her matrimonial house..The Court after hearing the rival contentions noted hat the children had supported the father's claims against the mother. "The conduct of the wife which has been projected and incidentally the children, who have supported such fact against the mother that she without the knowledge of her husband has done away with the security of the marriage of the daughter and has obtained amount from the creditor by pledging the ornaments meant for the marriage of the daughter would certainly cause apprehension & fear and create financial pressure on the mind of the father as we cannot also forget the hard reality which exists in the society to present a girl during the marriage with ornaments," the Court observed. Hence, if a spouse pledges such ornaments to avail loans without informing the husband, the same would fall within the ambit of mental cruelty, the Court stated. "Consequently, if a spouse by her own conduct, in such a way without caring about the future of the daughter, parts with the ornaments which were meant for the marriage, it will be within the ambit of mental cruelty done by the wife," the Court ruled.The Court, therefore, allowed the plea and granted on the ground of cruelty stated in Section 13(1)(i-a) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.Advocate Shailendra Bajpai appeared for the husband while the wife was represented by advocate Palash Rajani..[Read Judgment]