Vindication is a powerful Legal provision, especially when you’re standing up for your rights in a court of law.
If you’ve been struggling with infidelity in your maritial life, you know the amount of disturbance and damages it will cause. Now, we have to thank to a recent high-profile judgment from the Delhi High Court, a crucial and very important but often forgotten legal remedy is back in the spotlight where everyone gets to know about the law which existed earlier. Yes, you read that right: a spouse can sue their spouse’s lover for damages which he or she caused to other spouse under Indian law.
Now we will get to know why this law is big win and important to be known to every married couples also the aggrieved spouses, how this civil suit for alienation of affection works, and why this remedy has been for longer period of time which most people started to wonder also they started to realize.
Weather can you sue: Yes, You Can Seek Compensation ?
when you read the judgement of Joseph Shine vs. Union of India judgment which was in the year 2018 —which decriminalized adultery— many believed that legal recourse against a partner’s lover had vanished. This is the wrong thinking where people started to talked without knowing having much knowledge on the laws.
A spouse in India has the legal right to sue their spouse’s lover for damages by filing a civil suit for alienation of affection . This is a Tort remedy —a claim for a civil wrong—where the aggrieved or affected spouse seeks monetary compensation from the third party (i.e., the lover of the spouse) for inducing their partner to alienate their love and affection. The Delhi High Court recently made this law in existence by reinforcing it based on the position of the party, clarifying that this remedy is available and valid for all the aggreived or affected spouse in a maritial relationship.
Do you know It’s a Tort Remedy, Not a Criminal One
It is really very important to understand the difference. Before 2018, the third party could potentially face criminal charges for this sort of offences under the old Section 497 of the IPC (Adultery). That section is gone. You cannot send someone to jail for adultery anymore becuase adultery no more a serious offence which will not be treated so seriously.
However, the path to seeking compensation for inducing spouse to alienate affection has always remained open under Tort Law, do not think that it can completely be elimate it has remedies under Tort Law.
A tort is simply a civil wrong that causes damage, and the person who caused the harm must provide a remedy (usually money or any monetary values). Alienating a partner’s affection and causing emotional, social, and financial harm to the other spouse is recognized as a tort.
What’s unbelievable is that this isn’t a new concept! The Supreme Court of India itself reiterated this right, way back in the 2013 case of Pinakin Mahajan vs. State of Gujarat . Yet, as many practitioners have experienced, including the team discussed in the blog article, lower courts often forget or fails to remember the question of this kind of established law, forcing Advocates to constantly argue a settled legal point or established laws.
The Game-Changer: Shel Mahajan vs. Bhanushi Bahel
This case of Shel Mahajan vs. Bhanushi Bahel is the judgment that is finally bringing the old law back into focus. In the landmark case of Shel Mahajan vs. Bhanushi Bahel, the aggrieved spouse—in this case, who is the wife —successfully filed a civil suit for damages against her husband’s girlfriend (Defendant No. 1) for inducing her husband to end the marital relationship with his wife, where she was in a relationship with her husband as a lover.
The suit was not only just interesting for its nature; But it also solved the problem of a key procedural debate: Filing civil suit in Civil Court vs Family Court, which court should the case have to be filed.
The argument was raised that this kind of case must be heard only in a Family Court. The Delhi High Court dismissed this narrow view, clearly stating that the Civil Court also has the remedy and is not barred from hearing a suit filed against a third party (the lover) by the Family Courts Act. This clarification is crucial, ensuring that this remedy is accessible without unnecessary jurisdictional hurdles which stops from filing suit in civil cases.
What are the Right’s for Both Spouses ?
While in this case, Shel Mahajan case involved a wife suing her husband’s girlfriend, the principle is gender-neutral any gender person can file this suit weather it is a male or female. The law under tort must apply with parity to all. A husband should have the exact same right to sue his wife’s boyfriend for the same tort incase if the wife is with an extra-maritial affairs with another boy.
There’s a persistent concern among lawyers or Advocates about political correctness creating a one-sided approach, where a court might hesitate to allow a husband’s suit citing the wife’s privacy. However, the legal ground is solid: if the principle allows a wife to sue the husband’s lover, it must equally allow a husband to sue the wife’s lover. Now there won’t be any discrimination by favouring only wife not the husband.
The clear and widely-publicized ruling by the Delhi High Court means that for the foreseeable future, judges will have a recent, powerful precedent—beyond the 2013 Supreme Court ruling—to confirm that, yes, you can file a case against a third party who alienates or takes away your spouse’s affection.
Key Takeaways for the Aggrieved Spouse
- Criminal Recourse is Out: You cannot seek jail time for adultery.
- Civil Recourse is In: You can file a civil suit for damages under Tort Law.
- The Goal is Compensation: The objective is to seek monetary damages for the harm caused.
- Court Jurisdiction is Clear: The Civil Court is an appropriate forum for the suit against the third party.
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