Punjab and Haryana High Court: False Allegations of Sexual Assault Amount to Cruelty

Recently, the Punjab and Haryana High Court rendered a significant judgment, affirming that a wife’s fabrication of sexual assault accusations against her in-laws constitutes psychological abuse, warranting grounds for divorce as ruled by the Sonipat court earlier this year.

In a decision delivered by Justice Sudhir Singh and Justice Harsh Bunger, the Division Bench upheld the lower court’s verdict, emphasizing that falsely accusing all male family members of sexual assault, especially when they are found innocent after investigation, unequivocally qualifies as cruelty.

The judgment stemmed from an appeal initiated by the wife, married to the man in 2009, refuting claims of cruelty while alleging harassment and dowry-related mistreatment from her husband and in-laws.

Conversely, the husband contended before the family court that his wife had mistreated his family since the onset of their marriage, alongside engaging in extramarital relations. Although the husband accused his wife of adultery, the court found no substantiated evidence. Nevertheless, it acknowledged that only the husband and mother-in-law faced charges following the wife’s dowry and sexual assault complaints.

The family court concluded that baseless accusations of sexual assault against all male members of the respondent-husband’s family constituted cruelty. It was noted that during cross-examination, the appellant-wife admitted to never leveling such allegations against her father-in-law. However, evidence proved otherwise, causing trauma to the in-laws. The court deemed the wife’s conduct significant, especially as she initially denied making allegations against her father-in-law but evidence suggested otherwise.

Consequently, the false accusations of sexual assault, particularly against the elderly father-in-law, constituted mental cruelty, leading to the dismissal of the wife’s appeal against divorce.