Making Allegations Of Extra-Marital Affair In Complaints To Spouse's Employer Is 'Cruelty': Delhi High Court

A division bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Renu Bhatnagar observed that marriage requires adjustment and parties may take a long time to adjust with each other but both husband and wife are expected to show due respect to each other.

“The foundation of a sound and healthy marriage is tolerance, adjustment and mutual respect for each other…Irrespective of the merits of these complaints, and regardless of whether the allegations made therein were false or true, we find that making such derogatory and defamatory remarks in the form of complaints to the employer of the spouse are nothing but cruelty,” the judges observed.

The appellant-wife was aggrieved by the divorce decree. She claimed that the respondent-husband resorted to various illegal measures to forcibly evict her and their children from the matrimonial house.

She further submitted that the husband obtained a divorce by levelling vague and frivolous allegations that she made defamatory complaints to his employer, citing physical acts of cruelty.

She relied on Raj Talreja v. Kavita Talreja (2017) where the Supreme Court held that mere filing of complaints does not amount to cruelty, if there are justifiable reasons for such action.

She claimed her complaints to the employer were a “desperate cry for help” due to the constant inaction on the part of the police authorities and urged the Court to view them in the context of the “diabolical and neglectful conduct” of the husband.

Unimpressed by this argument, the High Court noted that in her complaints to her husband's employer, the appellant-wife accused him of committing cruelty upon her and the children and also having an illicit relationship. It observed,

“The complaints made by her to the employer of the respondent, more specifically of the unfounded allegation of adultery, cannot be treated so as to address the issues of any wrong done to her, as the employer of the respondent has nothing to do with all such wrongs and lead to the irresistible conclusion that they were made to harass the respondent-husband and to humiliate him in his workplace before his colleagues.”

Irrespective of the truthfulness of the complaints, the Court added, “making such derogatory and defamatory remarks in the form of complaints to the employer of the spouse are nothing but cruelty.”

As such, the Court refused to interfere with the divorce decree and dismissed the wife's appeal.

Appearance: Mr. Prashant Machanda, Ms. Nancy Shah & Ms. Isha Baloni, Advs. for Appellant

Case title: AS v. NKS

Case no.: MAT.APP.(F.C.) 160/2025

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