The Allahabad High Court has ruled that merely having conversations with another person on Instagram is not sufficient to establish that a wife is “living in adultery”, particularly when there is no corroborating evidence of physical intimacy or cohabitation.

The case arose after a husband challenged a family court order directing him to pay maintenance to his wife.

He argued that she was allegedly in an adulterous relationship with an advocate and relied on printouts of their Instagram chats as evidence.

Justice Jai Krishna Upadhyay observed that even if the contents of the unverified chats were considered, social media messages alone could not legally establish a continuous adulterous relationship.

The Court clarified that “living in adultery” refers to a continuous, ongoing and habitual course of adulterous conduct, and cannot simply be inferred from conversations, professional associations or suspicion.

The Court also noted that electronic evidence must meet the applicable legal requirements for verification and observed that the husband had not produced the required certification for the chats.

Since the evidence presented was insufficient to establish that the wife was continuously living in adultery, the High Court dismissed the husband’s challenge and upheld the maintenance order.