A false criminal complaint can a ground for dissolution of marriage, says the Hon’ble SC. Read on to find out the complete story

The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has in the past held in the case of K. Srinivas v K. Sunita that a false criminal complaint can be a ground for dissolution of marriage. On November 19, 2014, the Division Bench comprising Justice Vikramjit Sen and Justice P.C. Pant said, “We unequivocally find that the respondent-wife had filed a false criminal complaint, and even one such complaint is sufficient to constitute matrimonial cruelty. We accordingly dissolve the marriage of the parties.

The wife had left her matrimonial home on June 30, 1995 and the husband filed a divorce suit on July 14, 1995 on the ground of cruelty as well as irretrievable breakdown of marriage. The wife retaliated by filing a criminal complaint against her husband and seven of his family members under various provisions of IPC and Dowry Prohibition Act. The husband and his family members were arrested and jailed.

The criminal complaint filed by the wife charged the husband and his seven family members under Section 307 read with Sections 34, 148A, 384, 324 of the IPC, and Sections 4 and 6 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. The wife also filed a petition under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 for restitution of conjugal rights. As a result, the husband and his family members were arrested and incarcerated.

However on 30th June, 2000, the Learned Vth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge, Mahila Court, Hyderabad, acquitted the appellant and his family members, and this order subsequently attained finality.

Meanwhile, the Family Court at Hyderabad, by its Judgment dated 30th December, 1999, granted a divorce to the appellant on the ground of cruelty as also irretrievable breakdown of marriage. While doing so, it also rejected the Respondent’s petition under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

However, the wife appealed successfully against this judgment in the High Court, in 2005. The order of the High Court then came for consideration in front of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.

The Apex Court of India started by saying that the principle of ‘irretrievable breakdown of marriage’ had not yet found statutory acceptance in India in spite of the Law Commission’s recommendations in its 1978 and 2009 reports.The Court also stated that the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2013 that seeks to establish ‘irretrievable breakdown of marriage’ as a ground for getting divorce, has the assent of only the Rajya Sabha for now, and that including this principle in Section 13 of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 may not be expedient, keeping in mind the oppression of women in the country.

As a result, the Court said that the only question in front of it was whether the filing of a false criminal complaint sufficiently proved matrimonial cruelty as would entitle the injured party to claim dissolution of marriage.

The Court concluded that the criminal complaint file by the wife was indeed false and that a false criminal complaint was enough to constitute matrimonial cruelty. Based on this, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India dissolved the marriage under Section 13(1) (ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

The only consideration to be kept in mind in subsequent cases is that the authenticity of the complaint has to be examined thoroughly and only when it is concluded that the complaint is false, the Court should construe it to be matrimonial cruelty. Nonetheless, this judgment has established a new ground for dissolution of marriage and has put a judicial checkpoint on the increasing number of false domestic complaints.