"We are inclined to uphold the family court order of dissolution of marriage and the divorce decree on the ground of cruelty based on the allegation made by wife," Justice A R Joshi and Justice A M Khanwilkar observed on June 21.
However, the High Court quashed the family court order which dismissed the plea of the woman and daughter (names not disclosed to protect identity) for maintenance and separate accommodation, saying that it was not proper as it had not been dealt with properly.
The High Court directed the woman and her daughter to appear before Family Court again for denovo (afresh) reconsideration of their plea for maintenance and separate home.
In the letters written to her husband and also in the pleadings and oral evidence before the Family Court, the woman had made allegations against her husband having an affair with his sisters.
"In our opinion, the decree passed by the Family Court ought to be upheld on the ground of cruelty considering that the wife in a letter on May 11, 2006, to her husband stated about the incidents she had noticed indicative of illicit relations between him and sisters," the bench noted.
"However, we refrain from reproducing the allegations in this judgement. Suffice it to mention that the same are serious and disparaging remarks," the judges observed.
While the husband took the plea that the allegations had caused mental agony and cruelty to him as they were "frivolous, reckless and malafide", his wife claimed that her letter to husband was a privileged communication between a husband and wife.
She justified her stand on the ground that whatever she had stated in the letter was on the basis of her "inner feelings". MORE
