Sending ‘kiss emojis’ to another man? J&K high court refuses wife’s plea in divorce dispute

NEW DELHI: The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh high court has refused to interfere with a family court order that framed a question on whether a woman had been "caught red-handed sending kiss emojis" to another man during proceedings in an ongoing divorce dispute.Justice Rahul Bharti dismissed the wife's petition challenging the framing of the issue in the matrimonial case, observing that no prejudice would be caused to her merely because such a question remained part of the trial.The dispute arose from a divorce petition filed by the husband under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, alleging cruelty by the wife. Among the issues framed by the Jammu family court was whether the wife, who is a doctor, had also been found sending "kiss emojis" to a man, who is also a doctor.While hearing the wife's challenge, the high court clarified that the burden still lies on the husband to prove the allegations during trial."This Court finds no prejudice being caused to the petitioner [wife] with the issues No. 2 and 3 as framed in the sense that it is the respondent [husband] who is supposed to bring home the charge of marital cruelty against the petitioner and succeed in getting a decree of divorce, "the court said.The Court further said that if the husband fails to establish his claims through evidence, the divorce petition itself would fail, thereby vindicating the wife's stand, as per a report by Bar and Bench.The couple married in May 2018 and have a daughter born in September 2019. The husband moved the family court in January 2025 seeking divorce on grounds of cruelty.In September 2025, the family court framed four issues for adjudication: whether the wife had treated the husband with cruelty; whether she had been caught red-handed sending kiss emojis to another man; whether she had threatened to get the husband killed; and whether her in-laws had refused her entry into the matrimonial home.Before the high court, the wife sought deletion of the "kiss emojis" issue and also requested framing of an additional issue questioning the maintainability of the divorce petition, contending that it did not disclose any valid ground for divorce.Justice Bharti, however, noted that the family court technically did not need to frame a separate issue on the emoji allegation because it was already subsumed within the broader cruelty claim.The judge further remarked that if every allegation between spouses were separately framed as an issue, it would lead to "an unending list of issues."Despite that observation, the high court held that retaining the issue would not prejudice the wife since the allegations still need to be proved through evidence at trial.The court also declined to frame an additional issue on maintainability, stating that whether the allegations are true or correct is a matter for evidence proceedings."This Court, therefore, is not inclined to entertain the present petition but still leaves it for the court below to consider as to whether the petitioner in her objections/reply to the divorce petition has come forth with a plea that the alleged acts of cruelty came to be condoned by the respondent and if the petitioner is coming forth with any such plea then an issue to said effect ought to have been framed for enabling the petitioner to lead evidence from her end to succeed in her defence in seeking the dismissal of the respondent's divorce petition, "the bench said.The petition was consequently dismissed. However, the high court directed the trial court to consider whether the wife had raised a plea of condonation — that the husband had condoned some of the alleged acts — and, if so, to frame a separate issue to that effect so she could lead evidence in her defence.