A false criminal complaint against a spouse constitutes mental cruelty warranting divorce.

The husband petitioned under Sections 13(1)(i-a) and 13(1)(i-b) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, seeking divorce on grounds of cruelty and desertion.

He alleged that the wife had said the marriage was forced, treated him as intellectually inferior, insisted on a separate residence, and later lived apart from him.

The wife denied the allegations and alleged dowry demands and abuse; she also produced records of a criminal complaint she had filed against the husband and his family under Sections 498A, 323, 504 and 506 read with Section 149 of the IPC.

The Family Court allowed the husband’s petition and dissolved the marriage.

The wife appealed under Section 19(1) of the Family Courts Act, 1984.

Whether the Family Court’s decree was arbitrary, perverse, or made without proper appreciation of the evidence.

Whether the decree dissolving the marriage on grounds of cruelty and desertion should be set aside.

The husband sought divorce under Section 13(1)(i-a) of the Hindu Marriage Act, which provides for dissolution on the ground of cruelty, and Section 13(1)(i-b), which provides for dissolution on the ground of desertion.

The appeal was brought under Section 19(1) of the Family Courts Act, 1984.

The High Court relied on *K. Srinivas Rao v. D.A. Deepa*, (2013) 5 SCC 226, for the proposition that a false criminal complaint against a spouse may amount to mental cruelty.

The judgment also states that prosecuting a spouse through an unsubstantiated and false criminal complaint may cause mental cruelty.

The High Court considered the husband’s testimony and the supporting evidence of two witnesses, who spoke to the wife’s alleged statements that the marriage was forced and that the husband was not her equal educationally.

It also noted the wife’s admission that she had lived apart from the husband since October 2014 and that there was no evidence of subsequent cohabitation.

The Court treated the criminal complaint and charge sheet as supporting the husband’s case of mental cruelty, and noted that the wife had not personally witnessed the alleged second marriage she attributed to him.

On the record as a whole, it found no basis to disturb the Family Court’s findings of cruelty and desertion.

It dismissed the appeal, leaving the decree of divorce in force, and disposed of any pending applications.