MANISH M. GUTHEDAR Vs. DEEPA S.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a husband's petition challenging the order passed by the Family Court dismissing his petition for divorce and allowing the petition of the wife for restitution of conjugal rights. As petitions were clubbed together and common evidence was recorded and common order came to be passed, they are taken up for consideration together and disposed of by this common Judgment.

(2.) FOR the purpose of convenience, the parties are referred to as they are referred to in the petition filed by the husband for divorce.

(3.) THE case of the petitioner is that the marriage was performed forcibly, it was not performed as per Hindu rites and customs. Therefore, the said marriage is not a valid marriage in the eye of law and as such, respondent is not a legally wedded wife. The respondent is in the habit of participating in the horse -race with a gambler friend. Since respondent gave birth to a child within seven months from the date of marriage, it creates suspicion in the mind of the petitioner. When he questioned the fidelity of the respondent, she left the matrimonial home without the consent of the petitioner. Thereafter, the petitioner had stopped cohabitation with the respondent and subsequently, the respondent deserted the petitioner and started to reside with her mother. Hence, he was constrained to file the petition for dissolution of marriage on the ground of desertion as well as on the ground of cruelty.