MANAWWA Vs. CHANDRANAPPA SANGAPPA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant-plaintiff brought a suit OS.49 of 1970- in the Court of the Munsiff, Basavanabagewadi, for maintenance at the annual rate of Rs. 1,200 from the defendant who, according to her, was her father-in- law. The plaintiff claimed that she was the second wife of Shivappa, the only son of the defendant and his first wife being Basalingawwa. She had given birth to a daughter called Laxamavva who died in infancy in 1950 and Shivappa died in 1959. She claimed that the suit properties consisting of lands and houses were the ancestral properties of the defendant, out of which she was legally entitled to annual maintenance, which according to her, has been denied unreasonably by the defendant.

(2.) The defendant, while resisting the suit, contended inter alia, in the written statement that the plaintiff was not the wife of Shivappa. Shivappa had no second wife and Laxmavva was not the daughter of the plaintiff by Shivappa. It was also contended that the plaintiff had a husband called Rahutappa Siddappa Bilgi who died after some years after his marriage with the plaintiff.

(3.) It may be relevant to state that the plaintiff never disclosed in her plaint that she was first married to Rahutappa Siddappa Bilgi.