Jaipur’s Family Court-2 Judge Vishal Bhargava ruled on a petition filed in January 2023, dissolving a marriage that had lasted 13 years. The judge determined that the wife's behavior toward a third party amounted to mental cruelty, granting the husband’s petition for divorce. This decision underscores how courts are interpreting emotional betrayal in the context of long-term marriages where physical intimacy has ceased.
The husband alleged that his wife had effectively replaced him as her partner, a claim supported by specific evidence. On October 24, 2021, she celebrated Karwa Chauth in Goa with another man, treating him as her husband during the fasting ritual. Judge Bhargava noted that this conduct went far beyond ordinary friendship, signaling a complete breakdown of trust within the marital relationship.
The petition highlighted a prolonged period of separation and emotional distress. The couple had been living separately for over a year at the time of the filing, with no physical intimacy reported since 2019. The husband also accused his wife of harassing his parents and filing false complaints, further eroding any possibility of reconciliation.
The court’s order emphasizes the legal weight of emotional betrayal in Indian family law. By citing the specific act of religious observance for another man as mental cruelty, the judge set a clear precedent for similar cases. The ruling stands as a final conclusion to a decade-long dispute over the integrity of the marital bond.