In November 2019, the Karnataka High Court upheld a lower court’s decision to grant a divorce to a man who submitted video evidence of his wife’s adultery. The court admitted the video as evidence and affirmed the divorce decree.
The couple, who married on July 7, 1991, and had two daughters, faced marital turmoil when the husband discovered his wife’s infidelity. Between June 4 and June 9, 2008, the man, while away in Bengaluru, had placed a digital video recorder (DVR) in their bedroom. The video captured his wife engaging in sexual acts with one of her friends.
Subsequently, the husband approached the family court in Ballari seeking a divorce on grounds of adultery and cruelty. While the family court dismissed the cruelty claim, it granted the divorce based on the video evidence of adultery.
In response, the wife challenged the divorce decree on July 30, 2013, before the Karnataka High Court. She accused her husband of forcing her to act in pornographic films and sought to overturn the divorce. However, the division bench, comprising Justices Alok Aradhe and PGM Patil, observed that the wife did not dispute the content or authenticity of the DVD. Additionally, she did not provide any complaints about her husband’s alleged coercion.
The bench remarked, “Though the alleged adulterer is an appropriate party in a case where divorce is sought on grounds of adultery, the non-impleadment of such a person would have no impact on the proceedings of the case as even the Hindu Marriage (Karnataka) Rules, 1956 don’t provide for it.”
The court also noted that one of the couple’s daughters testified that she and her sister had stayed with their mother in Ballari between June 4 and June 9, 2008, confirming that their father was not at home during that period.
This ruling underscores the importance of credible evidence in divorce cases and affirms the Karnataka High Court’s stance on maintaining the integrity of judicial proceedings.
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