AKASAM CHINNA BABU Vs. AKASAM PARBATI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE plaintiff-appellant is the husband of defendant-respondent No. 1, Akasam parbati. They were married sometime in February 1956. It is the case of the plaintiff that after their marriage his wife lived with him for a short time and thereafter she was forcibly removed by defendant No. 2, her maternal uncle, to his house where she lived an adulterous life with him and gave birth to a daughter who is now about five to six years old. Their relationship continued to remain unhappy. A registered notice was sent on behalf of the appellant to defendants nos. 1 and 2 alleging that they were living an adulterous life and in the said notice the plaintiff also disclaimed the parentage of the daughter horn to defendant No. 1

(2.) THE defendant No. 1 denied the allegations and made counter-allegations of cruelty against the plaintiff in reply to the said notice dated 9-5-1959. The defendant No. 1 started a criminal case against the plaintiff and some Others alleging that they assaulted her. During the pendency of that case, the plaintiff filed the present suit under Section 18 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, (hereinafter referred to as the Act') praying for a decree of divorce on the ground that defendant No. 1 was living in adultery with defendent No. 2.

(3.) THE defendants denied the plaint allegations. Their case is that defendant No. 1 lost her parents in her childhood and was brought up by her maternal uncle, defendant No. 2, who gave her in marriage with the plaintiff. Defendant No. 1 lived with the plaintiff for about six months and during that period she conceived through the plaintiff. The plaintiff and his parents continuously treated defendant no. 1 with cruelty and in the fourth month of her pregnancy, she was forcibly driven out of their house Defendant No. 1 had no alternative but to take shelter in the house of her maternal uncle, defendant No. 2, where she gave birth to the daughter. After prolonged negotiations by some respectable persons of the locality the plaintiff tool; his wife and the daughter to his house, but again they left the house as they were subjected to continuous ill-treatment and the present suit has been filed only with a view to relieve the plaintiff from the monetary obligation of maintaining the wife and the daughter