SUDHIR SINGHAL Vs. NEETA SINGHAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appllant herein filed a petition seeking for dissolution of his marriage with the respondent on the grounds of cruelty and mental disorder. It was alleged in the petition that the respondent after the solemnisation of marriage treated the petitioner with cruelty and that the respondent had been suffering from mental disorder of such a kind and to such an extent that she could not be reasonable expected to live with the petitioner.

(2.) The parties got married on 2.5.1982 at Delhi according to Hindu rites and ceremonies. Both the parties were divorcees at the time of their marriage. However, there is is no child of the parties either from the present marriage or from the previous marriage. After marriage, the parties lived at Chandausi, District Moradabad, U.P., and the said divorce petition was originally filed in the court of Civil Judge, Moradabad, U.P. in April,1989. Under the orders of the Supreme Court, the case was transferred to the Courts at Delhi.

(3.) After the case was transferred to the Courts at Delhi, the respondent filed a written statement on 14.8.1992 controverting all the allegations levelled against her by her husband. She pleaded that she never behaved in the manner alleged. She also took up a defence that the appellant was a known case of alcoholism and had shattered the marital life of the parties. She also alleged that she was dealt with in a most cruel manner right on the very first night as well as thereafter because of the fact that her husband was an alcoholic and that because of his alcoholic habits she had not been able to conceive and that is how, admittedly, there is no child from the wedlock.