BAKAL RAM Vs. KAUSHALYA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by the husband undersection 28 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. He filed a petition forjudicial separation under section 10 of that Act on the ground ofdesertion by his wife. In the order under appeal, the Additional District Judge has held that he has no jurisdiction to try that petitionas the parties did not last reside together' in Delhi, which was thebasis on which the jurisdiction of the court was sought to be foundedunder section 19 of the Act. Consequently, the judge has ordered thepetition to be returned for presentation to the proper court. Thequestion canvassed in appeal is whether the judge was right in holding that the husband and wife had not last resided together' in Delhi.

(2.) . In one respect the history of this marriage is rather extraordinary.Although this husband and wife have been married for over 16 years,they have lived together very little. Yet, somehow, the marriage hasdrifted on for all these years. They were married on 8/03/1962at Jullundur. It was an arranged marriage brought about through thegood offices of a Mr. Kashmiri Lal. The husband, Dewan Balak Ram,was at that time 47 years of age. He was an officer in the IndianNavy and was posted as the Staff Officer (Navy), Cabinet Secretariat,Military Wing, New Delhi. The wife, Dr. Kaushalya, was 38 years ofage, and was a member of the Provincial Medical Service in Punjab.At the time of the marriage she was posted as a Medical Officer inthe Civil Hospital at Hoshiarpur.

(3.) . It is common ground that after the marriage was celebrated,the husband and wife came to Delhi and lived together. But thereis controversy about the duration of the wife's stay in Delhi on thatoccasion. According to the written statement of the wife, she tooklong leave and lived with the husband in Delhi for 'about two months'.This is denied by the husband in his replication. He says that shestayed with him in Delhi 'only for a few days and definitely for lessthan 15 days'. The evidence does not resolve the issue and enable anyprecise conclusion to be reached. However, this much at least iscertain that, immediately after the marriage, the husband and wiferesided together in Delhi for a substantial period, probably not lessthan two weeks.