In a significant judgment from the Madhya Pradesh High Court at Jabalpur, the division bench of Justice Vishal Dhagat and Justice Anuradha Shukla has granted divorce to Abhisheikh Shrivastava, allowing his appeal against the 2019 order of the Family Court, Satna. The High Court observed that his wife, Dipika Khare, had deserted him without reasonable cause and subjected him to mental cruelty by making unfounded accusations of dowry demands and a second marriage.
Background
The couple married on 29 November 2008, but their relationship deteriorated soon after. According to the husband, Dipika left the matrimonial home in January 2009 and only returned briefly in 2011 before permanently leaving on 29 February 2012 when she was reportedly pregnant.
She gave birth to a daughter in May 2012 but continued living separately in Gujarat, where she worked and obtained maintenance under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The husband alleged that she spread false information to his employers, resulting in his dismissal.
Meanwhile, Dipika countered that she was harassed for dowry and thrown out of the house during pregnancy. She further claimed her husband told her over the phone that he had remarried while abroad.
Court's Observations
After examining the evidence, the bench found that the wife failed to substantiate any of her serious allegations.
"Making allegations is the easiest adventure, but proving them is a burdensome task," Justice Anuradha Shukla remarked in the judgment.
The Court noted that Dipika had never filed a police complaint or produced any evidence regarding dowry demands or physical cruelty. Her claim that she avoided filing a complaint to save the marriage did not convince the judges. Instead, her separate actions under the Maintenance and Domestic Violence Acts showed she had no intent to reconcile.
The Court observed that under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, the burden to prove justification for withdrawal from the marriage lies on the spouse who left.
"In this case," the bench noted, "the respondent-wife has failed to discharge this burden."
Furthermore, the Court found that false accusations of dowry harassment and a second marriage amounted to cruelty. Quoting the Supreme Court’s ruling in Rani Narsimha Sastry v. Rani Suneela Rani (2020), the bench said,
"When a spouse faces false allegations of dowry harassment, it cannot be accepted that he was not subjected to any cruelty."
The judges emphasized that mutual trust is the "golden thread" of any marriage. "When unfounded and defamatory allegations are made by one spouse against the other, that bond of trust gets impaired," they observed.
Decision
Concluding that the trial court had ignored key evidence and misapplied the law, the High Court set aside the lower court’s decree. It held that Dipika Khare had deserted her husband without reasonable cause and had subjected him to mental cruelty by making baseless allegations.
The bench therefore allowed Abhisheikh Shrivastava’s appeal under Section 13(1)(ia) and (ib) of the Hindu Marriage Act and dissolved the marriage solemnized on 29 November 2008.
"The marriage between the parties stands dissolved," the order stated clearly, directing that a formal decree be drawn accordingly.
Case Title: AS v DK
Case Type & Number: First Appeal No. 58 of 2020
