In Neha Lal v. Abhishek Kumar [2026 INSC 73], the Supreme Court observed a disturbing trend where parties in matrimonial disputes increasingly use fabricated and AI-generated evidence. The Court noted that such false allegations are often raised simply to “teach the other side a lesson,” regardless of the legal consequences.
To address this, the Court suggested several proactive steps to handle matrimonial disputes:
- Pre-Litigation Mediation: Parties, guided by their advocates, should make an earnest effort to engage in pre-litigation mediation. In many cases, professional counseling may be more appropriate than immediate legal action.
- Prioritizing Mediation over Pleadings: Even when a case is filed for relatively “trivial” issues—such as maintenance under Section 144 of the BNSS, 2023 (formerly Section 125 CrPC) or Section 12 of the Domestic Violence Act—the Court’s first priority should be exploring mediation. Moving straight to filing replies often leads to a cycle of allegations and counter-allegations that only aggravate the dispute.
- Police Intervention & Reconciliation: When a complaint regarding a simple matrimonial dispute is brought to the police, the focus should remain on reconciliation. Whenever possible, this should be handled through court-annexed mediation centers rather than summoning parties to a police station. The Court warned that police involvement, especially an arrest—even for a single day—often marks a “point of no return” for a marriage.
This 2026 judgment is highly relevant given the rise of Deepfakes and AI tools and increasing use of them in matrimonial disputes.
