S P TRIVEDI Vs. CHANDRAKALA TRIVEDI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) WHAT the appeal is about ? this appeal is filed by the petitioner/husband, whose petition for divorce filed against the respondent wife, was dismissed by the learned Judge of the Bombay City Civil Court. Ground urged in the petition for divorce.

(2.) THE ground mentioned in the petition for divorce was mental cruelty on the part of the respondent/wife vis-a-vis the petitioner husband. Certain acts of cruelty were mentioned in the original petition for divorce. To the said petition, a written Statement was filed by the respondent wife. Certain statements were made by her in the said written Statement, which according to the petitioner/husband themselves constituted cruelty against her husband. Hence, the petition was amended by him, by the leave of the Court, and as per the amended petition he added an additional ground and a particulars relating to cruelty. The statement made by the respondent/wife in her written statement was that the petitioner/husband had indulged in an adulterous conduct with his female friends and, particularly with one Dr. (Miss) Sudha Kulkarni. This statement was, according to the petitioner/husband, itself an act of cruelty on her part. In para 10 (a) of the amended petition, ground was taken that this allegation of adulterous conduct caused mental pain and anguish and tension to the petitioner and that itself furnished a cause of action for the petitioner for obtaining divorce from the respondent/wife. The respondent/wife filed a supplementary written statement and reiterated her contention about the adulterous conduct of the husband. Re-Issues

(3.) ON the basis of these pleadings, issues were framed by the learned Judge. A very serious grievance is made by the learned Counsel for the appellant husband about the non-framing of one of the most vital issues in the petition. I will turn to that part of the grievance and to the effect of the same when I deal with the arguments advanced across the bar. At this stage, however, it may be stated that the parties went to trial as per the issues framed by the learned Judge. Both the parties examined their own witnesses as also certain documents in support of their claim. The learned Judge has examined the evidence quite exhaustively and he has held that the plea of cruelty made by the plaintiff in his petition was not made good by him in his evidence. The petition is, therefore, dismissed by the learned Judge and hence, this appeal. The main question