MIHIR SARKAR Vs. SOMA ROY (SARKAR)

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal under Section 28 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, is directed against the judgment and decree dated 23.7.2001 passed by the learned Additional District Judge, West Tripura, Agartala in Title Suit (Divorce) No. 19 of 2000. The decree for divorce as prayed for by the appellant -husband having been refused by the learned trial court the present appeal has been filed.

(2.) THE case of the appellant -petitioner before the learned trial court, as evident from the application under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") filed before the said court, inter alia, is that the appellant and the respondent were married as per Hindu customary rites on 26.11.1996. Thereafter, according to the appellant he had lived and cohabitated with the respondent peacefully for about 6/7 months from the date of the marriage. However, according to the appellant, thereafter the respondent started ill -treating him and had compelled him to separate from the common mess where he was living with his brothers. In the application seeking divorce the appellant -husband has specifically stated that on several occasions the respondent had left his house without any prior intimation and that she had also misbehaved the old and ailing mother of the appellant and other members in the family. According to the appellant, in the month of September 1997 the respondent finally left the matrimonial home without his consent and started living in her parental home which was also situated in Agartala. According to the appellant, since then the respondent had deserted him and in spite of several attempts for reconciliation the respondent had not come back to the matrimonial home. In the application filed before the learned trial court, the appellant has further stated that though the respondent was not pregnant at the time when she had left the matrimonial home it had subsequently came to the knowledge of the appellant that she had delivered a baby after a few months of leaving the matrimonial home. In these circumstances, the appellant has categorically stated that the respondent is a woman of bad character and in this regard he has narrated that before her marriage she had freely mixed with her boy friends. It was also specifically stated by the appellant that as the respondent had kept away company of the appellant for more than two years there was no chance of restoration of conjugal life and consequently the decree of divorce as prayed for should be granted.

(3.) ON the basis of the pleadings of the parties the learned trial Court framed four issues for trial in the suit. The issues as framed by the learned trial Court may be usefully extracted hereinbelow.