The Bombay High Court ruled that WhatsApp chats alone cannot justify granting divorce without giving the other spouse a chance to respond. The Bench of Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande set aside an ex parte divorce order passed by a Nashik family court.
MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court recently held that WhatsApp chat messages presented by one party cannot alone justify granting a divorce without giving the other party an opportunity to rebut them, and accordingly set aside an ex parte divorce order issued by a Nashik family court.
A Division Bench comprising Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande was hearing the wife’s appeal against the family court’s ex parte decree of divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act.
The family court had accepted the husband’s cruelty claim based solely on WhatsApp and SMS messages he submitted, without allowing the wife any chance to contest or challenge that material.
Relying on those messages, the family court found they constituted serious mental cruelty toward the husband. It held that the alleged use of pressure tactics, emotional blackmail and intemperate language made the husband’s continuance with his wife untenable, and therefore he deserved a divorce.
The High Court disagreed with that approach, emphasizing that an adversarial process had not actually taken place.
The Bench said,
“There was no opportunity given to rebut the said evidence by the wife,”
The court underscored that electronic messages, by themselves, cannot support a divorce decree in the absence of proper proof at trial.
It held,
“Merely relying on the WhatsApp Chat, the divorce decree cannot be granted, since it is not proved by leading evidence,”
Accordingly, the High Court quashed the Nashik family court’s divorce decree and remanded the case for rehearing, permitting the wife to lead evidence. The court also noted that the parties remain free to pursue settlement through mediation before the family court, as the husband’s counsel had suggested.
Advocate Shubham S. Sane represented the wife, while Advocates Sanjay P. Shinde and Prathmesh T. Bhanuwanshe appeared for the husband.
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