No divorce for man who falsely claimed his wife was HIV positive: Bombay HC

The man has not produced any evidence that his wife had tested positive for HIV, the HC said.

The Bombay High Court has refused to grant divorce to a 44-year-old man from Pune who falsely claimed his wife was HIV positive due to which he suffered mental agony.

A division bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Sharmila Deshmukh in its order of November 16 dismissed the appeal filed by the man in 2011, challenging an order passed by a family court in Pune the same year refusing his petition for divorce.

The man has not produced any evidence that his wife had tested positive for HIV, which caused him mental agony, the HC said, adding that his prayer for grant of divorce on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage is liable to be rejected outright.

The couple got married in March 2003 and the man claimed his wife was of whimsical nature, stubborn, short-tempered and did not behave properly with him or his family members.

She had also suffered from tuberculosis and later with herpes, the man further claimed.

As per his plea, a test later conducted on his wife in 2005 revealed she was HIV positive.

The man subsequently sought divorce.