ALVINA Vs. SURENDRA KUMAR DAVID JOHANI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, whose petition under sections 10 and 22 of the Indian Divorce Act, 1869, for dissolution of marriage or in the alternative for separation, was dismissed by the learned Extra Assistant Judge, Nagpur by his Judgment and order dated 26th Nov., 1981, has come up in appeal.

(2.) The undisputed facts are that the appellant was serving as a Nurse Balarshah and the respondent was serving with the Railway. They developed love and after having loved each other for about 7 or 8 years, they entered into marriage and their marriage was solemnised at the Roman Catholic Church as per Roman Christian rites on 16-6-1976. After the marriage, the petitioner went to reside with her husband at his house at Bhilai and she lived with him for about 15 days and there she returned to her duty at Balarshah. After about 4 months of the marriage, the petitioner resigned her job and went to reside with her husband at Bhilai. Thereafter she was conceived and gave birth to a child on 13-3-1977 at Mure Memorial Hospital, Nagpur. At that time, respondent's sister was serving as a Nurse at the Mure Memorial Hospital. About 10 days after the birth of the child, the child died. After the death of the child, she went back to her husband and resided with him at Bhilai. There she was again conceived and while her pregnancy was of about 4 months her brother Vinance (P. W. 2), her sister, brother-in- law and Aunt had been to the family residence of the respondent on 31-1-1978 and they brought the petitioner with them to Nagpur on the same day. At Nagpur she suffered abortion on 12-8-1978. The respondent did not make any attempt to take her back from Nagpur to his residence at Bhilai.

(3.) The case of the petitioner is that after the birth of her first child, her husband on seeing the child of fair complexion, suspected her fidelity and thought that the child was conceived from her own brother. Therefore, he started ill-treating her. She further alleged that the respondent in the fourth month of her pregnancy, kicked her own the stomach as a result of which she developed severe pain in the abdomen and, therefore, wrote a letter to her brother at Nagpur, requesting him to come to Bhilai and rescue her from the clutches of the respondent. On receiving her inland letter, her brother Venance Gregory, brother-in-law Harsinghrao, elder brother Edward and Aunt had been to Bhilai in the morning of 30th or 31st July 1978 and after seeking the permission of respondent's father, brought the petitioner to Nagpur. According to her, as she was mercilessly and brutally assaulted by the respondent with fist-blows and kicks during initial stages of her pregnancy of the second child was lost. She also alleged adultery on the part of her husband. But in this appeal, the learned counsel for the appellant had restricted the petitioner's claim on the ground of cruelty only.