False Police Complaint By Wife An "Act Of Cruelty", Says Delhi High Court

A wife making false police complaint and the prospect of being summoned to a police station hanging over the husband like a "Damocles' sword" is cruelty, the Delhi High Court has said, while granting divorce to an estranged couple.

Maintaining that a police station is "not the best of places for anyone to visit" as it is a source of mental harassment and trauma, a bench headed by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait said the wife had done everything to "entrap" the husband and his family in a criminal case.

The wife, in the present case, had filed a police complaint about alleged cruelty by her husband and his family, and also claimed that her father-in-law once attempted to rape her in the presence of her mother-in-law.

The husband had approached the high court against a family court order refusing to dissolve the marriage.

The bench, also comprising Justice Neena Bansal Krishna, noted that all accused were acquitted by the trial court and said, "Such conduct of making false allegations and constant threat of being summoned to Police Station are the acts which severely impact the mental balance and are the acts of cruelty."

"A Police Station is not the best of places for anyone to visit. It is a source of mental harassment and trauma each time he was required to visit the Police Station, like the 'Damocles Sword' hanging over his head, not knowing when a case would be registered against him and he would be arrested," the court said in a recent order.

The court noted the couple had not lived together for almost 17 years and, as per the Supreme Court, continuous separation for a long period itself is a ground for divorce.

"In the instant case, not to grant a decree of divorce would be disastrous for the parties. Otherwise, there may be a ray of hope for the parties that after a passage of time (after obtaining a decree of divorce) the parties may psychologically and emotionally settle down and start a new chapter in life," it said.

"There is no chance of reconciliation between the parties and such long separation peppered which false allegations, Police reports and criminal trial has become a source of mental cruelty and any insistence to continue this relationship would only be inflicting further cruelty upon both the parties," the court said.

It said the marital discord between the couple has pinnacled where there is a complete loss of faith, trust, understanding and love between them.

"The parties cannot be reasonably expected to live with each other anymore," opined the court, while dissolving the marriage.

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