SHEELADEVI VIJAYAKUMAR Vs. A. VIJAYAKUMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Mat.Appeal is preferred by the petitioner in O.P.No.1094/2009 on the files of the Family Court, Kozhikode. The appellant/wife had preferred the application for divorce on the ground of cruelty.

(2.) The contentions raised were that the marriage between the appellant and the respondent was solemnised on 16.09.1981 and that the respondent was working in Sharjah at the time of marriage and after the marriage the wife was also taken abroad on 13.05.1982. It was contended by the appellant that the respondent husband was an addict to alcohol and that he was a suspicious character and had treated her with cruelty. Several instances had been narrated in the application.

(3.) A counter statement was filed by the respondent denying the entire allegations. He had denied the allegation that he was an addict to alcohol and had, on the other hand, raised contentions of cruelty as against the appellant wife. The appellant was examined as PW1 and the respondent as RW1. After considering the oral evidence adduced, the Family Court came to the conclusion that no reliable evidence had been adduced to show that the respondent had treated the appellant with cruelty. It was found that she could not prove a single instance of cruelty on his part. It was also found that they had lived together for 29 years, and if, as alleged in the petition, the petitioner had come to know that the respondent was an alcoholic and if he had started to ill-treat her immediately after the marriage, there will be no reason for the marriage having subsisted for nearly 29 years. On these grounds, the petition for divorce was dismissed.