A Delhi court has recently held a woman liable for defamation of her ex-husband and ordered her to pay ₹15 lakh as damages to him.
Judge Sunil Beniwal of the Saket District Court in Delhi found that the acts of the ex-wife caused injury to the man and hampered his professional growth.
“From the record of the case, it is evident that the defendant has indulged in acts amounting to defamation by way of Libel. The copy of email/ chats filed by the plaintiff have been duly proved, supported by way of an electronic evidence affidavit, and remain unrebutted. The defendant has not challenged and or taken any steps to challenge the authenticity of the said emails,” the Court said in its July 29 order.
The Court was dealing with a suit filed by the man against his ex-wife claiming damages from her for defaming him and pursuing malicious and false litigations against him.
The two had being married since 2001. The husband alleged that the wife left the matrimonial home in 2009 with their minor daughter and began to file frivolous and false litigations by putting defamatory allegations against him and his family members before various courts and authoritie
He also claimed that the wife did not allow him to meet their daughter and deprived him of her love and affection.
It was also argued that the wife used abusive/ defamatory language against him and his mother while chatting with her friends through her email accounts.
The husband stated that in 2021, the marriage was dissolved by a family court on the ground of cruelty under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
However, even after divorce, he alleged that the ex-wife continued to defame him by sending emails to the plaintiff’s aged and ill maternal uncle who was also plaintiff’s employer of the plaintiff.
He further argued that due to constant harassment, he had to undergo major surgery in March 2022 which cost him ₹6 lakh.
The wife on the other hand argued that the suit filed by the husband was false, frivolous, malicious and an afterthought to harass the defendant.
She also claimed that the suit was barred by limitation as it was based on chats from the year 2010 and emails sent in 2020.
The Court observed that the wife had chosen to taken contradictory stands as per her convenience.
“It is observed that at Question no. 5 of the cross examination the defendant has stated that she only has only used one email ID till date where as in the very next question the defendant has admitted that she had mentioned another email ID in her income affidavit in the month of November 2017 filed in the DV case as filed between the present parties which is duly mentioned above”, the Court noted in its Order.
It also found the suit within the period of limitation.
Thus, it held her liable and ordered her to pay damages of ₹15 lakh along with interest of 9 percent from the date of institution of the suit till the date of payment.
Advocate Minakshi Agarwal appeared for the husband while advocate Fauzi Sayeed represented the wife.