V. P. MUTHUKRISHNAN Vs. SHAKUNTALA K. MUDLIAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The only question in the present appeal is whether the' trial Court was right in holding that the appellant-defendant committed breach of the promise to marry with respondent-plaintiff.

(2.) As far as relations between the parties, i.e., the plaintiff and the defendant, are concerned, at the hearing there was no dispute, in that the respondent-plaintiff, Miss Shakuntala K. Mudliar, and the appellant-defendant. V. P. Muthukrishnan, met in Pune in or about May, 1965. The appellant-defendant appears to he a distant relative of the plaintiff, who, is a well-educated lady having successfully obtained the degree in M. Sc. in 1960. Initially, she was in the employment of Ahmednagar College and thereafter i working as a Scientific Assistant in the Botanical Survey of India Office. defendant joined service in Pune and was visiting the family of the plaintiff. The defendant himself is a B. Conn and having met on week days. evidence o" both the plaintiff, Shakuntala Mudaliar (P.W. 1) as well as defendant, V. P Muthukrishnan (I).W. 1), goes to show that they became eddy and their love affair began. It is the case of the plaintiff that it i the defendant who first made sexual advances, while it is the case of the defendant that it was the plaintiff who made such initial advance. The in tiff has taken the oath that the defendant sought sexual intimacy promiser that he would marry as he was in deep love with her and that the that sexual act was some time in 1966. According to the defendant section. he had told the plaintiff that she being elder his parents would not absent to the marriage and that they would raise the question of dowry. It is she who made the proposal for marriage and requested the defendant to it secret. The defendant was asking money from time to time and the plaintiff was paying the same. According to him, it was the plaintiff who was alluring him, for her sexual enjoyment. They thus, lived intimately right to May, 1969. Thereafter, the defendant left Pune and went to Hyderabad d got married.

(3.) On the basis that the defendant breached the promise of marriage, the t was filed. The oral evidence consists of the testimony of the plaintiff as II as that of the defendant. The documentary evidence spreads over the period from 1967 to 1970 consisting of several letters, which are Exs. 27, 251, d other documents from Exhibits 52 and 56. The trial Court held in your of the plaintiff and has made the award of damages.