The Punjab and Haryana High Court has said that if a woman works outside the home, then maligning her character is extremely insulting to all women. The court said that making baseless allegations of adultery hurts the dignity of all women. Working does not at all mean that the woman is characterless. In a divorce case, the division bench of Justice Sudhir Singh and Harsh Bangar said that the trial court judge wrongly assumed that there was an illicit relationship between the woman and the former judge.
In fact, the trial court had approved the divorce of a lawyer and his wife. The lawyer had accused his wife of having an affair with a judge with whom she had worked earlier. Regarding this, the Punjab-Haryana High Court said, how can one ignore the fact that in modern times women are playing their role with great enthusiasm in every field. They are ahead not only in office but also in business. In this time, if a woman goes out with a male partner in connection with her business, official work, then it is wrong to assume that she has an illicit relationship with the person and she is adulterous.
The court said that such allegations are not enough to prove that the woman has relations with another man. The court said, such allegations have not only insulted the wife but also insulted all women. Let us tell you that the couple got married in 2014. However, after marriage, due to disputes, they started living separately. After this, the husband sought divorce by accusing the wife of cruelty and prostitution.
Regarding cruelty, the husband had alleged that the wife did not want to have sex with him. Apart from this, she did not take care of his handicapped son. The husband alleged that the woman had stolen a T-shirt from the mall due to which he was insulted. At the same time, she used to call him impotent to her friends. The husband alleged that his wife had an illicit relationship with a former judge who was dismissed on charges of corruption. However, the wife rejected these allegations and said that her mother-in-law had demanded a lot of dowry at the time of marriage. Due to this, she was tortured.
Regarding stealing the T-shirt, the woman said that her husband had quietly hidden the T-shirt in her bag. In 2021, the trial court had said that the husband’s allegations that the woman was cruel and herself had an illicit relationship have been proved. After this the woman approached the High Court. The High Court first tried to reconcile the two. However, no positive result was obtained. The court said that necessary evidence should be presented in the court to prove adultery. The court said that the allegations of adultery leveled by the husband are not proven.
The trial court had also said that the woman lived an ultra-modern life and she lived in a rented room with another man in Australia. The High Court found out that she was forced to live with someone else due to floods in Australia. The court also found out that this was before marriage. The High Court has accepted the fact of cruelty and said that the woman had also complained to the police against her husband and his mother several times. The court has rejected the wife’s claim in which she said that she did this to save her married life.
The woman could not present any evidence even in the case of stealing a T-shirt from the mall. The court said that there is no doubt that the petitioner woman behaved cruelly with her husband. In such a situation, the court approved the divorce of both. However, adultery has not been made the reason behind the divorce.