Justice Laxminarayana Alishetty of the Telangana High Court held that in a petition for divorce on the grounds of adultery, it is necessary to make the alleged adulterer a party to the case. The judge was dealing with a matter in which the husband sought divorce alleging adultery by his wife and sought to implead the person with whom she was allegedly having an affair to the divorce proceedings on the file of the Additional Family Court in Hyderabad. When the family court rejected his application, he moved the High Court.
According to the averments in the divorce petition, the husband received a call from a third party stating that he was in love with the respondent. The respondent confessed to a past relationship. On an assurance that it was a relationship from the past, the husband proceeded to marry his wife.
However, the petitioner found that his wife was still in touch with the third party and therefore sought his impleadment in the divorce petition. The wife denied the allegations. "It is to be noted that since the finding of adultery would adversely affect the adulterer, opportunity should be given to him to defend himself and to disprove the claim of adultery and the said adulterer should be arrayed in the proceedings, which would help the court to effectively and completely adjudicate the controversy," the judge said.
He added, "Further, as per Rule 8 of the Rules framed under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, joinder of alleged adulterer as a co-respondent in a case fil.
