GAYATRI BAI Vs. RAM LAKHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is the wife's appeal against the trial Court's Judgment whereby decree for divorce has been granted against her on the petition of husband.

(2.) Appellant-wife Gayatribai and the respondent-husband Ramlakhan were lawfully married in Nov., 1971 according to Hindu rites and customs. It is no longer in dispute that at the time of marriage, the age of the husband was 16 years ; and that of the wife 11 years and 10 months. It is equally now conceded that the wife had stayed at her in-laws' place till 1974 and had thereafter come to live with her parents.

(3.) The petitioner-husband's claim for divorce was based on three grounds ; (i) Mental cruelty, meted out to him by his wife on account of her refusal to cohabit with him and her misbehaviour with him as well as with his parents ; (ii) Wife's adultery ; and (iii) wife's desertion of the husband for a period of more than two years before the presentation of the petition. The wife, on her part, denied all these allegations and contended that she had, all along, behaved and conducted herself as a dutiful wife, discharging all the marital obligations and equally paying due respect of the husband and the members of his family. The factum of desertion was equally denied and it was contended that it was the husband who had sent her to her parental home in 1964, never caring to call her back. Refuting the allegations of adultery, as alleged by the husband, she herself charged the husband, as leading an adulterous life with his own elder brother's wife. It was equally asserted that the husband's petition for divorce was motivated, because of non-fulfilment of the demand of a further dowry in the shape of 10 tolas of gold and scooter. Finally, it was urged that the petition for divorce having been filed more than seven years after the actual time when the wife had come to live with her parents, it deserved to be outright rejected on the ground of abnormal delay, without any justification.