Hubby defamed cop wife in newspaper; divorce upheld: Bombay HC

MUMBAI: Confirming a divorce decree granted to a Mumbai policewoman, the Bombay high court took note of the "embarrassment" caused to her by her husband who tried to defame her through a news article.
"Whether the actual news is defamatory or not is irrelevant. The fact that allegations and accusations are levelled by a party (husband in this case) in a newspaper itself has an effect of lowering her reputation in the eyes of her peers and colleagues. Embarrassment is a bitter bonus!" said Justices Ramesh Dhanuka and Milind Sathaye on March 24.
They dismissed the husband's appeal against the family court's June 2021 divorce decree that dissolved the marriage for cruelty under Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
The couple married in Nashik in December 2008. The husband, a banker, used to return home late and drunk. He allegedly abused his wife daily and doubted her character.
In April 2011, in a drunken state he visited the police training academy and created a scene using filthy language. After her posting to Mumbai, the harassment continued. He mortgaged her ornaments. She filed for divorce.
Before HC, the husband did not seek restitution of conjugal rights.
His advocate said he is an "MBA passout" and his career is destroyed because of his wife's action. She filed a false complaint at the instance of her mother, who is also in police service, he said, adding till the time she joined the police force they were happily married. He worked late hours with a private bank and is a "social and occasional drinker".
The wife's advocate said he is opposing divorce to keep harassing her and not let her live peacefully. He said the July 2014 news published in a Marathi daily damaged her reputation and embarrassed her before her colleagues. While the husband claimed he visited the academy with gifts and food for her, the judges referred to his written apology in which he promised not to repeat his act.
They also took note of his complaints against other persons.
"In our considered view, a partner in a matrimonial relationship who goes to the extent of filing police complaints against mother, friend, well-wishers, prosecutor or advocate of his own wife, is a kind of person who is difficult to deal with and certainly causing mental harassment," Justice Sathaye wrote for the bench.
The judges said due to the bitterness between the parties it is not possible to reconcile the situation and the bond is broken irretrievably. "The overall conduct of the appellant/husband amounts to mental cruelty," they concluded, adding "there is no fault in the divorce decree."