October 21, 2025

On September 23, 2025, the Himachal Pradesh High Court delivered a spicy and powerful judgment! A husband who started living with another woman and had a child with her, while still married, was declared guilty of cruelty to his wife. The wife’s decision to live separately was fully supported by the court. Here’s the masaledar story: The couple got married in Shimla on May 30, 1993, but they started living apart from January 1994. The husband claimed his wife had left him without reason, unable to adjust to life in the small village of Tattapani. Members of the local Panchayat even visited her, but she refused to return. But the wife had her own spicy version – she said it was the husband who left her in her parents' house in Shimla and never came back. She tried through relatives to rejoin the marital home, but the husband didn’t allow her and shamelessly married another woman without divorcing her! The wife filed a complaint with the Himachal Pradesh Women Commission in 2001, revealing her husband's shady second marriage and abandonment. Despite having no income and losing her mother, she fought on, asking for her rightful jewelry and maintenance. An agreement was made in 2002 for returning dowry items, but neither side played fair. In 2023, the wife secured a legal victory when the Magistrate approved payment of Rs 3,000 per month maintenance, upheld later by the Sessions Judge. But the husband obstructed, filing petitions, blaming her for desertion and cruelty. Witnesses testified that the wife left early on, but the Panchayat and family agreed she refused to return despite invitations. The court threw out the husband's claims, pointing to the real culprit: the husband’s live-in relationship since around 1995 and the birth of a daughter from that relationship in 1996! The High Court declared, “Birth of a daughter out of such relationship in the year 1996 indicates that appellant (husband) is in such relationship at least since 1995 and it was and is sufficient ground for the respondent (wife) to leave the company of the appellant (husband), which... cannot be treated as desertion or cruelty on behalf of respondent (wife), rather it is appellant (husband) on account of whose cruelty, respondent (wife) has been compelled to live separately.” Advocate Amir Khan told ET Wealth Online, “The Himachal Pradesh High Court ruled that when a husband lives in a live-in relationship and even has a child from it, the wife is fully justified in living separately. The court dismissed the husband’s divorce petition and held that he was guilty of marital misconduct.” Shashank Agarwal, legal expert, said the judgment is a big warning signal for husbands who blame wives for desertion while they themselves break marriage laws. The court examined all evidence carefully and found the husband's claims against the wife baseless and false. It also noted the husband habitually made baseless charges just to harass her. Shravanth Shanker from the Supreme Court said this judgment refines the law of desertion, making sure courts see the whole story, not just bits and pieces, ensuring that cheating husbands cannot escape punishment by blaming their wives. In short, the Himachal Pradesh High Court’s masaledar ruling protects the dignity and rights of wives, exposing the husband’s misconduct and confirming the wife’s right to live separately and get maintenance. A big win for justice and women’s rights!

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Tags: Himachal pradesh high court, Live-in relationship, Marital cruelty, Maintenance case, Wife's rights, Marital misconduct,