Fallacy of Irrelevance, Generalization and Poisoning the well.
In a matter brought before the Supreme Court, where after being married for only 40 days the husband wanted a divorce and the wife was trying to save her marriage, the Bench of Justice Sanjay Kaul and Justice Abhay Oak advised that marriage is not a casual thing and we are not under a western system where you marry today and divorce tomorrow.
The Bench further advised that if both parties wanted divorce and wanted to adopt the western philosophy, we [the Bench] would have allowed, but it can`t be one-way.
The Bench finally advised the couple to go for a private mediation proceeding.
In this matter, though one appreciates the Bench advising for a reconciliation, for the Bench to bring in the western system is irrelevant. Also, to declare that by choosing divorce, a party is choosing ‘western philosophy’ is absurd and too much of a generalization. It is not the case that divorces do not happen in ‘eastern’ side of the world nor is it the case that marriages are not successful in the ‘western world’.
A Poisoning the Well Fallacy is where negative information is spread about the opponent to discredit the opponent. In this case, by stating that divorce is a way of the ‘western world’ the Bench, though with the altruistic intention to save the marriage of the couple, created a negative view of the ‘western world’ to contrast it against the ‘eastern world’.