A Case of Complaints

In a peculiar case where defamatory plaints by a wife against her husband affected his career, the Court said it amounted to mental cruelty and allowed dissolution of the marriage

THE Supreme Court has held that a wife making defamatory complaints against the husband and affecting his career amounts to mental cruelty and is a ground for seeking divorce.

The observation was made by a bench comprising of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishi kesh Roy in a matrimonial dispute where the wife had made several defamatory complaints to the husband’s superiors in the Army. For this, a court of inquiry was held by the Army authorities against the husband. This led to the husband’s career getting affected. The wife also made complaints to other authorities such as the State Commission for Women and posted defamatory material on other platforms. Due to this, the husband’s career and reputation suffered.

The husband, an army officer, filed a divorce petition against the wife alleging that he was subjected to numerous malicious complaints by her, resulting in mental cruelty. On the other hand, the wife in her case for restitution of conjugal rights contended that the husband without any reasonable cause had de serted her. Accordingly, she pleaded that direction be given to the husband for resumption of matrimonial life.