Of False Allegations

A division bench of the Delhi High Court has recently ruled that falsely accusing a spouse of having an extramarital affair and denying parentage to children amounts to severe mental cruelty. Delivering this verdict, the Division Bench comprising Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Neena Bansal Krishna have also upheld a family court’s verdict which had denied a husband’s plea for divorce on the grounds of alleged cruelty by his wife. This is a very important decision pronounced by the Delhi High Court in the backdrop of increasing allegations of extramarital affairs made by either spouse, which have caused a lot of social concerns in recent years. As reported on the front page of the Saturday edition of this newspaper, the Delhi High Court has said that making baseless accusations against a spouse, especially involving character and fidelity, and further rejecting the children’s legitimacy inflicts profound mental anguish and damages the matrimonial bond irreparably. It has also taken note of the fact that such actions represent the gravest form of insult and cruelty, disqualifying the accuser from obtaining a divorce on these grounds. It is important to note that during the proceedings, it has come to light that although the husband had repeatedly accused his wife of unfaithfulness and inappropriate relationships with multiple men, he admitted during cross-examination that he had never witnessed any such compromising situation as alleged. It is also pertinent to note that the judges have criticised the husband for the relentless and degrading nature of his accusations, which also targeted innocent children by questioning their paternity. One can say that while the incidence of such false and completely unsubstantiated accusations has been on the rise across the country in recent years, news of a husband murdering his wife and vice versa has become common in the country, and Assam has not lagged behind in this aspect. One gets to read such news stories emanating from different districts of Assam almost on a daily basis, and it is in this backdrop that the Delhi High Court’s decision can be considered very timely and socially very relevant. The media too probably has some role to play in this regard, particularly in taking a decision whether to give prominence or not to such incidents.