Bombay HC says calling husband womaniser, alcoholic without proof is cruelty

The Bombay High Court has said defaming husband and calling him a womaniser and alcoholic without substantiating the allegations amount to cruelty, and upheld a family court order dissolving the marriage of a Pune-based couple.

A division bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Sharmila Deshmukh in its order passed on October 12 dismissed an appeal filed by a 50-year-old woman, challenging a November 2005 decree passed by a family court in Pune dissolving her marriage to a retired Army official.

According to A PTI report, the man died pending hearing of the HC appeal following which the court directed for his legal heir to be added as a respondent. The bench said the wife's conduct in making unwarranted and false allegations against her husband's character results in damage to his reputation in society and this amounts to cruelty.

The HC in its order noted that apart from her own statement, the woman has not produced any evidence to substantiate her allegations.

It is a settled position in law that 'cruelty' can broadly be defined as a conduct that inflicts upon the other party such mental pain and suffering as would make it not possible for that party to live with the other, the high court said.