SMTVENKATAMMA Vs. PATEL VENKATASWAMY REDDY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the order of the Second Additional District Judge, Bangalore, in H.M. Miscellaneous Case No. 219 of 1958 on an application filed by the respondent for restitution of conjugal rights.

(2.) The respondent who is the husband of the appellant, filed an application under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, alleging that she was refusing to return to his house since the Dasara of 1955, when she left to her parents' house for the holidays. He alleged that his wife had taken jewels worth Rs 1,500/- and had been staying away from him without any sufficient cause, at the instigation of her mother and some others. The appellant resisted this application by her written statement, in which she contended that the petitioner, her husband, was guilty of illtreatment and had driven her out of his house after wantonly neglecting to maintain her and her daughter. She further alleged that there was danger to the life of herself and her daughter and that the application was mala fide as it was intended to be a counteraction against her suit for maintenance filed in the Court of the Munsiff at Kolar. She further alleged that the petitioner had his first wife living in his house and that she was at the bottom of the whole litigation.

(3.) The learned District Judge negatived the contentions of cruelty and desertion alleged by the appellant. He also rejected the contention that the appellant was not entitled to resist the claim for restitution of conjugal rights on the ground that he had another wife living with him. The learned Judge was of the opinion that such a plea was intended "to be used as a weapon of attack and not as a weapon of defence by the wife in a petition by the husband against her for restitution of conjugal rights". In view of the conclusions reached by him, he passed an order in favour of the respondent directing a decree to be drawn up for restitution of conjugal rights in his favour.