Allegations of impotency made by wife in divorce proceedings not defamatory: HC

The Bombay High Court dismissed a man's complaint against his estranged wife, noting that allegations of impotency made by a woman against her husband in matrimonial proceedings do not amount to defamation when she has made them to protect her interests.

A Bench of Justice S.M. Modak held that in a Hindu Marriage Act petition, the allegations of impotency are very much relevant.

The court dismissed the petitioner's complaint seeking a defamation case against his estranged wife and her family for alleging that he was impotent in the divorce proceedings initiated by her.

A copy of the order passed on July 17 was made available on Friday. The court held that the woman was justified in making these allegations to show that she had suffered cruelty in the marriage.

The allegations of impotency being a ground for divorce are necessary, it said.

"This court feels that when litigation between spouses arises in a matrimonial relationship, then the wife is justified in making those allegations to support her interest," the court said, adding the same cannot be held as defamatory.

The man had stated that his estranged wife had, in her pleas seeking divorce and maintenance and also in her FIR against him and his parents, claimed that he was impotent. These documents were part of the public record and hence defamatory.

The woman, her father and brother had moved the High Court seeking to quash a Sessions Court order, directing a Magistrate's Court to conduct an inquiry into the man's defamation complaint.

The woman, in her plea to the High Court, said that her husband's impotence was one of the grounds for dissolving the marriage.