Calcutta high court fines Port Blair woman Rs 1 lakh for defaming husband over false remarriage claim
Times of India | 27 April 2025
KOLKATA: The Calcutta high court's circuit bench recently directed a Port Blair woman to pay Rs 1 lakh to her husband for defaming him by publishing two notices in a newspaper. She accused him of trying to remarry while his plea for a divorce decree was rejected.
The couple has a chequered legal history. Married in 1994, the husband first moved the trial court seeking a divorce on the grounds of cruelty and desertion in 2005, and he won. This was challenged by the wife in 2008, and she won.
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The husband then went to the Supreme Court, which refused to intervene. Ultimately, after two notices by the wife in a daily newspaper, he moved the trial court accusing the wife and the editor of the publication of defamation and seeking Rs 50 lakh.
While the trial court rejected the plea, the first appellate court asked the wife to pay Rs 2 lakh. This led to the present case before the Calcutta HC's circuit bench, Justice Supratim Bhattacharyya, where the woman claimed that her action had no intent to defame; instead, it was only for the “good of the society.”
The notice stated facts of the case along with a paragraph on how the woman, from a “reliable source,” came to know that the husband was trying to marry another girl “contrary to law.” “Such marriage, if conducted, shall be illegal in the eye of law, and the marriage, if any, conducted shall not be valid and will not confer legal status to the girl,” the notice stated.
While the wife was penalised, the editor was let go, stating, “the editor has no responsibility to check and verify each and every notice.”
“She (the wife) has neither revealed the source of obtaining the information nor has she been able to name the girl with whom she implicated her husband. Defamation means the action of damaging the good reputation of someone… This (notices), according to a prudent man, is nothing but a statement degrading the goodwill or reputation of a person,” the judge stated while also acknowledging the statements made by witnesses stating that the husband’s reputation was ‘degraded’ due to the notice published in a publication. “Thus, there is ample proof of defamation,” it was stated.
On damages to reputation, Justice Bhattacharyya on April 11 viewed that damage to reputation through libel is hard to quantify, but it’s also a fact that everyone in the country has the right to live with dignity. The court observed that it was on two occasions—December 3, 2008, and December 5, 2008—that the notice was published in a newspaper circulated there, which, according to the wife, was published without the informant’s knowledge, and she was also not able to gather information on the woman’s name with whom her husband was allegedly involved.
“This, according to a person of prudent thinking, causes emotional distress to the person involving whom such news is circulated having no basis. The Law of Torts does not have the power to put a person in incarceration, but it has been empowered to award damages. To deter any person from spreading any baseless news defaming another person, damages have been incorporated under the Law of Torts. Quantifying such an amount of damages acts as a deterrent factor and nothing more than that, and it is imposed to keep society intact,” the judge stated.
Considering the wife’s professional position, the court opined that the imposition of Rs 1 lakh as damages for defaming her husband is not an exorbitant amount, as she is a working woman. The husband works in the Port Blair Municipal Council, while the wife works in the Andaman Public Works Department (APWD).
Brief facts of the case:
Couple got married in 1994. They had a child together in 1996. Husband moved to trial court seeking divorce in 2005. In 2008, divorce was granted but the wife moved the division bench of Calcutta HC’s circuit bench which dismissed the decree. Wife published two notices in a publication claiming that the husband is looking to remarry despite there being no divorce decree. Husband moved the Supreme Court trying to get the divorce but SC refused to intervene. He moved the trial court against wife and publication’s editor for defamation and after initial failure, wins as first appellate court asked the wife to pay Rs 2 lakh of the Rs 50 lakh demanded by the man.