Habitual Doubting In Marriage Can Lead To Divorce: Delhi HC

Hearing a divorce case, the Delhi High Court said that habitually doubting the husband of having affairs with other women amounts to mental cruelty and is a ground for divorce.

It ruled over a trial court’s order of judicial separation in the case and granted divorce to the couple because the wife consistently suspected her husband of having an affair. The suspicion made it difficult for both of them to live with each other.

The trial court had recently refused to grant divorce to the couple living in London, HT reported.

“The respondent (wife) has levelled false allegations of an illicit relationship between the petitioner (husband) and his sister-in-law in the written statement which clearly amounts to cruelty,” said the court while granting divorce to the couple, as sought by the husband.

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Under judicial separation, the court gives time to a couple to resolve their problems and resume their marriage. Under this order, both parties don't have permission to marry again. However, divorce enables both the parties to live separately and marry all over again.

“The respondent (wife) has levelled false allegations of an illicit relationship between the petitioner (husband) and his sister-in-law in the written statement which clearly amounts to cruelty”

The couple got married in 1978 and the court heard pleas by both the spouses and came to the decision of divorce. The husband had challenged trial court’s decision of judicial separation and moved the HC to seek divorce. However, the wife moved the HC to rule over the trial court’s decision as she had decided to stay with her husband.

The husband’s petition said that the wife suspects him of having affair and accuses him of flirting around with other women. He claimed that she abused him, threw tantrums and indulged in misconduct with his family members. It also said that right after his brother’s death in 1999, she accused him of having an affair with his brother’s wife.

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