Whether court should grant decree for divorce if wife makes false allegations of demand of dowry?
Though the husband would be entitled to a decree of nullity, we must add that if at all we were not to grant a decree of nullity in favour of the husband, we would have granted a decree in his favour under Section 13(1)(ia) of the Act on the ground of cruelty as the wife has levelled serious allegations that the husband had asked huge amount from her father at the time of the marriage and had also sought a large amount from him for purchasing a luxury bus and since her father had not paid the amount, he had filed a false case that she suffers from sickle cell anemia. The fact that the wife suffers from sickle cell anemia is proved by the husband and it is also held so, by the Family Court. The wife has not proved the serious allegations that she has levelled against the husband in the written statement. She has not entered into the witness box to prove the allegations about the wrongful demands made by the husband at the time of the marriage or even thereafter. It is well settled that levelling of false allegations against the husband, specially in respect of demand of dowry and failing to prove the same would tantamount to cruelty. Be that as it may, since we are granting a decree of nullity in favour of the husband, it would not be necessary to grant a decree of divorce on the ground of cruelty as, as soon as we hold that the marriage is a nullity, there is no question of dissolving the marriage under Section 13 of the Act.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY (NAGPUR BENCH)
Family Court Appeal No. 158/2014
Decided On: 26.04.2017
Pradeep Vs. Sau. Pallavi Pradeep Ambhore
Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
V.A. Naik and Swapna Joshi, JJ.
Citation: 2017(6) MHLJ 627
