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New Delhi: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has refused to grant permanent alimony to a woman divorced from her husband on the grounds of adultery.
The order was issued on September 27 by a panel consisting of Justices Ritu Bahri and Nidhi Gupta after the woman appealed in 2008 to the family court in Ambala, Haryana, against the granting of the divorce.
Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides for maintenance for the wife, children or parents. However, a subsection states, “No wife shall be entitled to any allowance from her husband under this section if she commits adultery or refuses without just cause to live with her husband, or if she is living by mutual consent separated.”
The High Court heard the wife’s appeal against a September 2008 ruling by the Ambala Family Court, which had granted her husband’s divorce petition under Sections 13(1)(i) and 13(1)(ib). of the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955.
Section 13(1)(i) of the Act allows for divorce on grounds that the husband or wife has voluntarily had sexual intercourse with a person other than their spouse. Section 13(1)(ib) permits a divorce when a husband or wife has left their spouse for an uninterrupted period of at least two years.
The couple married in May 1989 in the city of Ambala. However, according to the ruling, the husband claimed that the wife’s behavior was “extremely rude and aggressive” from the beginning of their marriage. The ruling also considered the husband’s allegations that she had “abused, insulted and humiliated” him and his family members and that his wife had developed “intimacy” with her neighbor. However, the woman had denied allegations of cruelty and adultery.
The family court granted the husband a divorce on the grounds of cruelty and adultery. The Supreme Court upheld the order and refused to grant the woman permanent alimony.
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The mediation had failed
When the woman appealed the grant of the divorce in 2009, the Supreme Court referred the matter to arbitration in May of that year. The couple could not reach an agreement. In April 2018, the court found that mediation had failed in 2009. However, the appeal did not go to court due to an “unintentional error by the staff.”
The Supreme Court held that the woman could not produce any evidence to refute the Family Court’s findings.
“The applicant’s knowledgeable counsel was unable to present any evidence that could refute the findings of extramarital affairs of the applicant’s wife and Defendant No. 2. The investigation report (Ex. P1) paired with the evidence of [witnesses] “I have consistently proved that the applicant’s wife committed adultery,” read the order of the two-judge chamber.
The court then referred to various judgments that the woman had invoked to show that courts had granted maintenance to the wife despite allegations of adultery. However, it felt that these judgments would not help her case.
For example, in one of the cases it was stated that the husband had accused his wife of adultery but the Delhi High Court granted maintenance on the grounds that the husband could not prove the adultery allegations and that the divorce had been granted locally of cruelty and not of adultery.
Noting the differences between such cases, the Punjab and Haryana High Courts ruled, “Considering the comments made above, the plaintiff is not entitled to permanent alimony.” The appeal is dismissed.”
(Edited by VS Chandrasekar)
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