HARISH Vs. LEELAVATI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By these Family Court Appeals, the appellant Harish @ Roshan Bhaskar Karnewar,the original petitioner in a petition for dissolution of marriage by decree of divorce bearing Petition No.A-562/2013, and respondent in Family Petition No.A-697/2013, assails common judgment dtd. 02/12/2016 passed by the Family Court at Nagpur. Petition No.A-697/2013 has been filed by petitioner's wife Ms. Leelavati @ Reena Karnewar for restitution of conjugal rights; Ms. Leelavati is the respondent in Family Petition No.A-697/2013. For the purpose of these appeals, the parties are being referred to by their original nomenclature "petitioner" (Husband - Harish) and respondent (Wife - Leelavati).

(2.) The petitioner instituted a plaint (Petition No.A562/2013) against the respondent under Sec. 13(1)(i-a) and under Sec. 13(1)(iii) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") to obtain a decree of divorce mainly on the ground that the respondent had threatened him to commit suicide and her behaviour was abnormal, leading to a break down in their marriage due to mental torture and cruelty suffered by the petitioner; the second ground raised by the petitioner in his pleadings contained in the plaint alleged that the respondent was suffering from fits of epilepsy which was an incurable disease leading to her being of unsound mind, and further, that mental disorder was of a kind that the petitioner could not be expected to live with the respondent.

(3.) The respondent filed a petition bearing No.A697/2013 under Sec. 9 of the Act for restitution of conjugal rights claiming that the allegations made by the petitioner of her suffering from an incurable mental disorder, by virtue of which, the petitioner could not live with the respondent, were false and made up, and in reality the respondent has been driven out of the petitioner's home on this excuse, even though the respondent desired to live together. She claimed maintenance at Rs.15,000.00 p.m. for herself and Rs.5,000.00 p.m. for her daughter, claiming that the petitioner was earning a gross salary of Rs.41,753.00 p.m., as a Shunting Driver in Central Railways. The respondent has further pleaded that she was under treatment of a Neurologist since she lost consciousness twice ("Mirgi"), which was diagnosed as being a seizure, which was not an incurable mental disorder or disability which would incapacitate her.