MADHAVIKUTTY AMMA Vs. BHASKER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal arises out of an application filed for dissolution of marriage under the provisions of the Travancore Nair Act II of 1100 (hereinafter referred to as the Act). The wife who was the counter-petitioner in the Court below is the appellant herein, the Court below having allowed the application filed by the husband for dissolution of the marriage under Sections 5, 6 and 7 of the Regulation.

(2.) The parties who belong to the Nair community governed by the Act were married on 13-12-1953. At that time the respondent was employed in an oil company at Kuwait; he was there from 1947 onwards. After the marriage the appellant was also taken to Kuwait where they lived together till September, 1962 and three children were born to them. At the time of filing the petition for dissolution the children were aged 15, 14 and 13 respectively.

(3.) The appellant and the respon-dent returned to Kerala in September, 1962. By that time the respondent had deposited Rs. 20,000/- in bank in the name of the appellant. The husband also alleges that she had been given ornaments worth about Rs. 30,000/-. The husband's contention in his application for dissolution of marriage was that in spite of repeated requests the appellant refused to join him at Kuwait, after they returned to Kerala in 1962. It is also alleged that the appellant refused to treat the respondent with love and affection. On the other hand, she was treating him with habitual cruelty even when she was living with him in Kuwait. The acts alleged in the petition for dissolution as example of cruel behaviour are the following:--