Wife's false allegations of sexual assault against husband’s relatives is cruelty: Punjab and Haryana High Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently held that a wife making false allegations of sexual assault against her in-laws constitutes mental cruelty, for which the husband is entitled to seek divorce..The Division Bench of Justice Sudhir Singh and Justice Harsh Bunger gave the ruling while upholding a Sonipat court’s decision to grant divorce to a man on the ground of cruelty in March this year.“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..The judgment was passed on an appeal moved by the wife who had married the man in 2009. She denied the allegations of cruelty and alleged that her husband and his family had been harassing and torturing her for bringing less dowry. On the contrary, the husband alleged before the family court that his wife used to mistreat him and his family since the very beginning of the marriage and also used to pick up quarrels on trivial matters. He also accused her of having a relationship outside the marriage..Considering the submissions, the Court at the outset noted that though the husband had alleged that his wife was living an adulterous life, it was not proven. However, it also noted that the family court had found that on the wife’s complaint of dowry demand and sexual assault, only the husband and mother-in-law had been chargesheeted. "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 put in a traumatic situation due to the allegations of sexual assault which were later proven false.“The conduct of the appellant-wife, can be taken into consideration especially when she during her cross-examination stated that she had never levelled any allegation of sexual assault against her father-in-law. However, the fact remains that from Ex.P.1, it was proved on record that the wife had levelled the said allegations,” the Bench said. 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 grant of divorce..Advocate Sandeep Singh Sangwan represented the appellant-wife.