A court ordered an estranged wife and the Aichi Prefectural Government to pay a combined ¥550,000 in damages to the woman's husband for incorrectly declaring him a perpetrator of domestic violence.
The man's wife, in her 40s and a resident of Aichi Prefecture, sought help from police in 2016 to hide her address from her husband by telling them that she was the victim of domestic violence, according to the ruling issued on April 25.
The police accepted her request and the local municipal government limited access to her address in the government database after receiving a police report that also prevented the husband from seeing his daughter, who was living with the wife.
The Nagoya District Court said the police did not try to verify her account.
"Although we cannot say the abuse was unfounded, there was a possibility of exaggeration (in her plea) as there was no medical certificate submitted," presiding Judge Chieko Fukuda said.
The woman and the Aichi Prefectural Government have appealed the court decision.
According to the ruling, the couple wed in 2006 and their daughter was born the following year. The wife and the daughter have lived apart from the husband since 2012.