The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court recently declared that filing false and baseless criminal cases against a husband and his family falls under the definition of cruelty as per the Domestic Violence Act.
This observation was made while dismissing a plea from a 36-year-old divorced woman who sought to restore conjugal rights with her ex-husband after eight years of marriage. The woman challenged a February 2023 trial court order that had granted her ex-husband a divorce based on claims of cruelty and desertion.
The husband claimed that his wife left him in 2012 and returned to her parents’ home, subsequently initiating various legal actions against him and his family, causing them mental distress. The court noted that the wife had filed proceedings under the Domestic Violence Act, 2005, and also sought to restore conjugal rights.
The couple had married in 2004 and lived together until 2012. Justice Y S Khobragade, referring to past Supreme Court verdicts, clarified that while initiating proceedings under the Domestic Violence Act and seeking to restore conjugal rights do not inherently constitute cruelty, filing multiple false and baseless police reports against the husband and his family does.
The husband testified that his ex-wife even lodged false complaints of molestation against his father and brother, who were acquitted but endured significant trauma and humiliation. The court upheld the trial court’s findings, stating that they were supported by evidence and law, and thus dismissed the woman’s appeal.
