LEKSHMISOORYA S I Vs. DITTY S

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner/wife before the Family Court, Kottarakkara, in O.P. (HMA) 728/2015 seeks to quash an order passed by that court on 23.6.2018 dismissing I.A.1290/2018 filed for amending her pleadings in the Original Petition, in this proceeding instituted under Article 227 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) She filed the said O.P. for divorce, initially on the sole ground of cruelty alleged against her husband. Later, during pendency of the proceedings on an earlier occasion she sought leave to amend the original petition on an additional ground under Section 13(1)(iii) of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 alleging that her husband, respondent is incurably of unsound mind. The said amendment was already allowed and incorporated in the pleadings, as early as on 28.6.2017. This is her second round of petition seeking amendment in the O.P., which the respondent/husband very seriously opposed before the lower court.

(3.) Her allegation against the respondent/husband is that, he has illicit connection with a woman by name Geethanjali and he used to have voluntary sexual intercourse with her. Geethanjali is a divorcee and he pretends before the public that he had lawfully married her, though in fact it is only a pretext for maintaining the illicit relationship. Alleging that, information about the said illicit relationship came to her notice only on 6.5.2018, she sought to implead the said woman as corespondent in the O.P. and to bring forth the consequential amendments in the pleadings. Under Rule 11 (a) of The Hindu Marriage (Kerala) Rules ,1963, a woman who is alleged to be an adulteress is a necessary party in a proceeding for divorce. On these facts, the petitioner sought to amend the pleadings. But her plea was turned down by the Family court accepting the objections raised by the respondent on three counts.