SWATI SARKAR Vs. PRASANJIT SARKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) SINCE these Family Court Appeals arise from the common judgment of the Family Court dated 29.10.2012 in the petition filed by the wife under the provisions of the Special Marriage Act, 1954, for a decree of divorce and the petition filed by the husband for restitution of conjugal rights, the same are heard together and are decided by this common judgment.

(2.) IN the petition filed by the appellant -wife under Section 27(1)(d) and (e) of the Special Marriage Act, 1954, it was pleaded that the appellant -wife and the respondent -husband were married in Ranchi on 27.11.2001. The wife pleaded that she was studying in the College at the relevant time and was not in a position to take decisions on her own. It is pleaded that after the marriage, the wife co -habited with the husband, his parents and brother at Ranchi. It is pleaded that after the first year of the marriage, the father -in -law and brother -in -law of the wife started torturing her, by making her work throughout the day. It is pleaded that the wife was asked by the husband to bring the sum of Rs. Ten lakh from the parents in order to start a new business. The wife pleaded that the acts of cruelty started increasing in the year 2003 but she was required to face the same as the marriage between the parties was a love marriage. It is pleaded that the wife left the matrimonial home due to the torture but the husband visited the house of her parents and requested her to return to the matrimonial home. It is stated that the wife, believing the words of the husband, agreed to make a false statement against the father Shri Choudhary, in the High Court, in a Criminal Writ Petition filed by the husband. It is pleaded that the husband was in the habit of consuming drugs and alcohol daily. It is pleaded that the husband indulged in criminal activities of extortion, robbery and other offences at Ranchi. It is pleaded that the husband was imprisoned for a period of six months for the offence of extortion. It is pleaded that the husband was in the habit of beating people and was associated with criminals in Ranchi. It is pleaded that the husband had a habit of drinking alcohol and beating the wife regularly. It is pleaded that the wife suffered wounds in view of the beating by the husband but he never took the wife to the hospital. It is pleaded that the parents of the husband used to lock the wife inside the room of the husband for the whole day. It is pleaded that the wife used to live without food for two days and the child was also not given food. It is pleaded that the husband and his parents tortured the wife limitlessly and also never paid any expenses for the child. It is pleaded that the brother of the husband tried to molest the wife on several occasions. It is pleaded that though the husband was aware of the advances of his brother but he never stopped his brother from doing so. It is pleaded that the brother of the husband tried to have sex with the wife since she raised an alarm her neighbours came to her rescue. It is pleaded that Shri Dilip Prasad, Shri Dilip Thakur, Shri Ajitkumar and Shri P. Choudhari, the neighbours were present when she raised an alarm. It is pleaded that the husband was suffering from mental disorder of beating people for no reason. It is pleaded that though the husband was taken to the hospital for his mental disorder, he refused to take treatment. It is pleaded that the husband was in the habit of shouting at night, crying for no reason, abusing the people residing around the residence and also indulging in sex with the commercial sex workers in Ranchi. It is pleaded that the husband was having a number of affairs with other women. It is pleaded that on 12.10.2009, after consuming liquor, the husband started beating the wife with fists and sticks and since all this had become unbearable, the wife left the matrimonial home along with her daughter and started residing with her father at Nagpur.

(3.) THE husband filed a petition for restitution of conjugal rights under Section 9 of the Act on the ground that the wife had left the company of the husband without any cause. The Family Court framed the issues on the basis of the pleadings of the parties and the parties tendered evidence, oral and documentary. The wife examined herself and also examined her father and one Banarasiprasad as her witnesses. So also, the husband examined himself and also examined his father and Amitkumar, a friend of his younger brother to prove his case. On an appreciation of the material on record, the Family Court, by the common judgment dated 29.10.2012 dismissed the petition filed by the wife under the provisions of the Special Marriage Act for a decree of divorce on the ground of cruelty and unsoundness of the mind of the husband. The Family Court allowed the petition filed by the husband for restitution of conjugal rights. The judgment of the Family Court is challenged by the appellant -wife by filing separate Family Court Appeals.