New Delhi : A resident of Udaipur got divorce from the Supreme Court on the ground of cruelty by wife as defined in the Hindu Marriage Act, but only with a fat penalty of Rs 50 lakh as permanent alimony to her and a residential flat worth Rs 1 crore.
Allowing appeal of Raj Talreja, the Bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and Deepak Gupta held that cruelty can never be defined with exactitude, but a spouse leveling patently false accusations against other spouse would be an act of cruelty.
All the same, the Bench said it was not oblivious to requirements of the wife to have a decent house and alimony as her son and daughter-in-law may not continue to live with her forever. While ordering alimony of Rs 50 lakh to be paid to wife Kavita within three months and that she will not claim any further amount at any later stage, the court directed to let her continue to live in the house belonging to her husband’s mother till he gets her a flat of similar size in a similar locality.
They had married in 1989, had a son in 1990 and lived with the husband’s parents till 1999 when the couple shifted to own residence. On March 19, 2000, the husband left the flat and filed a petition for decree of divorce on March 25 and later filed a case of cruelty by wife by filing false complaints against him. He moved the Apex Court after the trial court and the High Court dismissed his petition.
The Supreme Court referred to “apparent reckless, defamatory and false accusations” by the wife against her husband, his family members and colleagues lowering his reputation in the eyes of his peers, but said mere filing of complaint is not cruelty if there are justifiable reasons.
It said merely because no action was taken on the complaint or the accused was acquitted after trial is no ground to treat such accusations of the wife as cruelty within the meaning of the Hindu Marriage Act, but it is an act of cruelty of the allegations are patently false.
In the present case, all the allegations were found to be false and her further allegation of her husband with some persons trespassing into her house and assaulting her were also found false by the police which also found her injuries as self-inflicted.
The Apex Court overruled the High Court holding that there was no reason to hold the criminal complaints filed by the wife were false and mala fide. “We are unable to agree with this finding of the High Court and the Court below,” it added.
