After 39 years of marriage and 25 years of court battles, Jharkhand HC refuses divorce over unproved claims of cruelty and adultery
SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA Ranchi, July 24: A marriage solemnised in 1987, separation lasting more than two decades, and nearly 25 years of…
SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, July 24: A marriage solemnised in 1987, separation lasting more than two decades, and nearly 25 years of courtroom battles came to a legal standstill with the Jharkhand High Court refusing to dissolve the relationship of a Jamshedpur couple, holding that allegations of cruelty and adultery cannot be accepted on the basis of suspicion alone.
The Division Bench of Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Pradeep Kumar Srivastava, in a judgement delivered on July 23, dismissed the appeal filed by 67-year-old Dhananjay Kumar Pandey, affirming the Family Court’s refusal to grant divorce from his 52-year-old wife, Vidyawati Devi.
The couple married on July 3, 1987, but have been living separately since 2002, when matrimonial disputes escalated into criminal complaints and divorce proceedings. Over the next 24 years, the litigation travelled from the Family Court to the High Court, was remanded for a fresh trial, and ultimately returned before the Division Bench for a final verdict.
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When suspicion replaced trust
The judgment paints the picture of a marriage consumed by mistrust. The husband alleged that his wife subjected him to cruelty, refused conjugal relations and maintained an extramarital relationship. The wife denied every allegation, accusing her husband and in-laws of dowry harassment, physical abuse and forcing her out of the matrimonial home.
After examining the evidence, the High Court found that the allegations of adultery and cruelty remained unsubstantiated. The Bench noted that the husband admitted during cross-examination that he had never caught his wife in any compromising situation, never filed a complaint over the alleged threats or illicit relationship, and had no documentary evidence to support his accusations.
Court: Suspicion cannot dissolve a marriage
The High Court reiterated that adultery is a serious allegation carrying lasting social consequences and must be established through convincing evidence, not suspicion or conjecture.
The Bench also observed that making baseless allegations of extramarital affairs against a spouse can itself amount to mental cruelty, relying on settled Supreme Court precedents.
Evidence favoured wife’s version
The court found greater consistency in the wife’s testimony that she faced dowry-related harassment and had initiated legal proceedings under Section 498A IPC. It also noted that evidence on record indicated the husband had contracted a second marriage and had a son from that relationship, a factor considered by the Family Court while assessing the conduct of the parties.
A legal battle outlasting the marriage
With the High Court dismissing the appeal, the legal dispute that began over two decades ago has effectively ended where it started—with the marriage remaining legally intact despite years of separation, mistrust and litigation.
The judgment underscores a broader principle of matrimonial law: however deep the breakdown in a relationship, courts cannot dissolve a marriage solely on the basis of suspicion or unverified accusations. Grave allegations such as adultery must be proved with credible evidence before they can become the basis for divorce.
