The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court recently ruled that filing false and baseless criminal cases against a husband and his family members constitutes cruelty under the Domestic Violence Act.
The court made this observation while dismissing a plea by a 36-year-old divorced woman who sought restitution of conjugal rights with her ex-husband. The woman challenged the February 2023 trial court order that granted a divorce decree based on the husband’s claims of cruelty and desertion.
The husband claimed that his wife left him in 2012 to return to her parents’ house and initiated various legal proceedings against him and his family, causing them significant mental cruelty. The court noted that the wife had filed complaints under the Domestic Violence Act, 2005, and sought restitution of conjugal rights.
The couple, who married in 2004, lived together until 2012. Justice Y.S. Khobragade clarified that while initiating proceedings under the Domestic Violence Act and seeking restitution of conjugal rights do not inherently constitute cruelty, filing numerous false and baseless police reports against the husband, his father, brother, and brother-in-law does.
The husband also stated that his ex-wife filed false molestation complaints against his father and brother, leading to their acquittal but causing them severe social trauma and humiliation. The bench upheld the trial court’s findings, affirming that they were based on evidence and law, and dismissed the woman’s appeal.
