Wife's Pregnancy Cannot Erase Past Cruelty, Says Delhi High Court While Granting Divorce

The Delhi High Court has held that pregnancy or a brief phase of reconciliation cannot nullify earlier acts of cruelty if abusive conduct continued thereafter.

“The occurrence of pregnancy or temporary reconciliation cannot erase antecedent acts of cruelty, particularly when the record demonstrates that the Respondent’s abusive conduct, threats, and denial of cohabitation persisted thereafter,” the Court observed.

A Bench of Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Renu Bhatnagar made the remarks while overturning a family court ruling that had rejected a husband’s plea seeking divorce on the ground of cruelty by his wife.

The couple married in March 2016, but according to the husband, their relationship deteriorated soon after the wedding. In his divorce petition, he cited multiple incidents, including alleged threats of suicide, attempts to force him to separate from his parents, verbal abuse toward him and his disabled mother, denial of physical relations since 2019, and eventual desertion in January 2020.

Opposing the plea, the wife accused the husband and his family of dowry harassment and alleged that her father-in-law attempted to molest her. She relied on documents including a dowry list, jewellery receipts and referred to criminal proceedings initiated later.

The family court dismissed the petition, concluding that cruelty was not proved and that the husband had approached the court with “unclean hands.” The court had also relied on the fact that the couple lived together during the wife’s pregnancy in 2019, treating it as evidence of reconciliation.

Before the High Court, the husband argued that the family court failed to appreciate the cumulative impact of repeated cruelty and instead assessed each allegation in isolation. He submitted that the wife’s accusations were belated, unsupported and surfaced only after litigation began.

The wife maintained she was compelled to leave the matrimonial home due to harassment, asserting that the divorce petition was an attempt to evade accountability.

Rejecting the reasoning of the lower court, the High Court held that the evidence demonstrated a sustained pattern of mental cruelty. The Bench found the wife’s allegations of dowry harassment and molestation to be belated and unsupported by contemporaneous complaints or action.

The court further noted that even assuming the allegation of molestation was true, cohabitation would be “virtually impossible,” as such a claim strikes at the foundation of trust between families.

The Bench also held that the family court misapplied the principle of “clean hands” under Section 23 of the Hindu Marriage Act, observing that unsubstantiated allegations cannot be used to deny relief where cruelty is otherwise proved.

“Matrimonial litigation often leaves behind deep emotional scars. The dissolution of marriage is not a triumph of one over the other, but a legal recognition that the relationship has reached a point of no return. Both parties are urged to maintain civility in all future interactions," the Court observed.

Finding that the marriage had irretrievably broken down and that cruelty was established, the Court allowed the appeal and set aside the Family Court’s judgment dated March 20, 2025, dissolving the marriage under Section 13(1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act.

Case Title: X vs Y

Bench: Justice Anil Kshetarpal and Justice Renu Bhatnagar

Order Date: 20.11.2025