When couples approach the court for divorce, allegations usually revolve around domestic violence, dowry harassment, or marital disputes. But in a case from Madhya Pradesh, a woman took an approach few could have imagined. She identified her husband’s own sister as his second wife to secure a divorce.
The matter reached the Gwalior bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, where the husband has challenged a one-sided divorce decree granted on the basis of what he alleges was misleading evidence presented by his wife.
According to the case details, the woman, a resident of Gwalior, was married in 1998 to a man working with a marketing company. The husband often stayed away from home, which gradually led to disputes between the couple. From 2015 onwards, the woman began living separately from her husband.
While the woman wanted a divorce at any cost, the husband was not willing. In 2021, she approached the family court seeking divorce and alleged that her husband had remarried.
As part of her evidence, the woman submitted a family group photograph showing her husband standing alongside his sister and other relatives. She claimed that the woman seen beside her husband in the photograph was his second wife. Relying on this photograph as proof, the family court accepted her claim.
Based on the submission, the Gwalior family court granted a one-sided divorce order in favour of the woman. The husband did not get an opportunity to present his side, and the divorce was granted without his participation.
The issue came to light when the husband learned about the divorce decree in the first week of April. After checking the court records, he was shocked to see the photograph that had been used as evidence. The woman identified as his second wife in the picture was, in fact, his sister.
Government advocate Dharmendra Sharma said that the husband has now challenged the one-sided divorce order before the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Gwalior bench. The husband has alleged that his wife misled the court and obtained the divorce decree through false representation.
The High Court is now hearing the matter, in which the husband has requested that the divorce order be set aside, arguing that the decision was based on misleading and incorrect claims.