SHAIB ALI BISWAS Vs. JINNATAN NAHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is the plaintiff-husband's appeal against an appellate decision, dismissing his suit for restitution of conjugal rights and consequential injunction.

(2.) The trial court decreed the suit on certain conditions which were duly complied with by the plaintiff. On appeal by the defendants, namely, the wife and her parents and uncle, the said decree was set aside and the plaintiff's suit was dismissed. The present second appeal is directed against this dismissal and seeks restoration of the trial court's decree.

(3.) The relevant facts lie within a short compass and they may be conveniently stated here as follows: Admittedly, defendant No. 1 Jinnatan Nahar was married to the plaintiff Shaib Ali Biswas in Magh 1356 B. S. There was a dispute between the parties as to the wife's (Jinnatan Nahar's) age at the time of the said marriage, the plaintiff alleging that she was then 15 years 3 months old and the defendant asserting that she was then aged only just a little above 14 years or, more precisely, 14 years 2 months, as it transpired in the defence evidence. The learned Additional District Judge, -- and so also the learned Munsif, -- accepted the defendants' case on the point and found that the wife (Jinnatan Nahar) was below 15 years at the time of her marriage and, further, -- and that was the common case of the parties, -- that she was given in marriage by her father as guardian. The learned Additional District Judge has also found as a fact that the wife repudiated the marriage which, according to him, was not consummated, on her attaining puberty seven months after the marriage, namely, in Bhadra 1357 B. S., and, upon that finding, in particular, he has purported to dissolve the marriage and dismiss the plaintiff's claim for restitution of conjugal rights.