Lady Staying In House Of Father's Friend Of Different Religion After Being Left By Husband Doesn't Amount To Adultery: Patna HC

The Patna High Court has observed that the act of a woman seeking refuge in the home of her father's friend, who follows a different religion, after being left by her husband does not constitute adultery.

Emphasizing that the Court can't consider all relationships in terms of sexual relationships, a bench of Justice Bibek Chaudhuri observed thus:

"...if residing in the house of the father's friend amounts to adultery there cannot be any social bounding in the society and if this Court is persuaded to hold that staying in the house of an old man of different religion by a married lady amounts to adultery than the entire social relation between man and man, man and women is to be looked into only in terms of sexual relationship."

The observation was made by the single judge while dismissing a plea filed by a Husband seeking the Court's declaration that his wife was not entitled to maintenance (as per Subsection (5) of Section 125 CrPC) as she is living an adulterous life. The Court also imposed a cost of Rs. 20,000/- upon the petitioner for filing an "absolutely perverse" petition.

The case in brief

Essentially, it was the case of the petitioner that his wife, a Hindu by religion, was residing with another person belonging to the Muslim religion and her act amounted to adultery within the meaning of Section 497 of the IPC. He moved the HC after his petition was dismissed by the Principal Judge, Family Court, Buxar.

Before the Court, his counsel contended that the fact that she was residing with an aged man was admitted by the wife of the petitioner herself as well as her mother. 

High Court's observations 

Having heard the contention of the counsel for the petitioner, the Court, at the outset, stressed that the legal definition of adultery relates to the fact of having a sexual relationship with a person other than the spouse, it is also regarded as one of the major reasons for the denial of maintenance allowance to the wife and her divorce

Further, in its analysis of the facts of the case, the Court noted that though it was admitted that the petitioner's wife was residing with a Muslim man, however, the Court added, that a solitary statement made by one of the parties cannot be picked up to put an imputation of an illicit relationship on a lady.

In this regard, the Court noted that as per the deposition of the petitioner's wife, the man, whom she was residing with, was the friend of her father who is aged about 60 years and this part of the wife's deposition was purposefully not taken into account by the petitioner's counsel.

"A lady who has been left by her husband takes shelter in the house of father's friend. The petitioner has raised question as to why the lady is living with his fathers friend especially when there is maternal uncle in Buxar. This cannot be a ground to hold that the opposite party no.2 has physical relationship which amounts to adultery...," the Court further remarked.

Against this backdrop, the revision petition was dismissed with a cost of Rs.20,000/- to be paid to the opposite party no.2/wife.

Case Title - Rajesh Kumar vs State of Bihar and another

LL Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Pat) 25

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