Claims of cruelty alone are not sufficient for granting divorce, says HC

The Bombay High Court refused to grant divorce to a 39-year-old man who alleged his wife had an extra-marital affair and deserted him, citing lack of evidence of cruelty.

A division bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande stated that cruelty must be proved by the party alleging it through evidence.

The court upheld the family court's 2023 decision that dismissed the husband's divorce petition, noting he produced no oral or documentary evidence to support cruelty claims.

The couple married in 2013 in Uttar Pradesh, lived in Andheri, and the husband transferred ₹29.50 lakh to his wife's account in 2019 for a flat purchase in Mira Road.

The husband alleged his wife disappeared in 2021, kept ₹12 lakh of transferred funds, and moved in with another man, but the court found these claims unproven.