Falsely implicating spouse to affect job amounts to mental cruelty: HC

Making unfounded allegations against the spouse or their relatives with a view to cause problem for the spouse's jobs would amount to cruelty, ruled the Bombay High Court recently.

A Bench of Justices Atul Chandurkar and Pushpa Ganediwala said, "Making unfounded allegations against the spouse or his/her relatives or making complaints with a view to affect the job of the spouse amounts to causing mental cruelty to the spouse."

The ruling was pronounced while dismissing a husband's plea seeking divorce from his wife. As per the husband, his wife had secured a job by showing a false caste certificate. He also alleged that his wife suffered from epilepsy.

The wife claimed that the husband and his family members often picked up a quarrel with her. "This conduct of the husband of not pleading that the wife was suffering from epilepsy and stating the same for the first time in his deposition as well as making wild allegations that the wife and her relatives had secured false caste certificate without attempting to substantiate the said allegations has resulted in causing mental cruelty to the wife," the judges said.