AJAY PAL SINGH JOHL Vs. MEERA JOHL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The husband, who was unsuccessful in his prayer for divorce on the ground of cruelty and desertion, is the Appellant before this Court.

(2.) The Petitioner and the Respondent had married outside their respective castes on 14.10.1984. They were students in the same college and had known each other. The caste differences which were not predominant during their courtship came to surface a little later when according to the husband, the wife was carrying her caste superiority and her 'pandit-mentality' and treated him badly pointing out to his 'inferior status'. The husband would complain that she would wash the kitchen and utensils if he went into the kitchen. She would constantly taunt him that he was no good architect and he knew nothing on the subject. The other attributes of cruelty were that she abused him openly in the presence of his friends and would refuse to make coffee or tea when asked to serve them with refreshments. Unable to bear the uncivility of her behaviour, he had to leave the matrimonial home and they are living away from each other ever since 1992. The Petitioner would contend that the wife had several morbid habits like taking sleeping pills and given to drinking which was not liked by him. The husband had attempted to bring a reconciliation while at Gurgaon in the year, 1993, but the wife had literally ejected him out of the house. They had a child through the marriage but the Petitioner would contend that he was not allowed to meet with the child. The petition had been filed on 22.04.1997 complaining of desertion by wife of separate living for more than 2 years prior to the filing of the petition.

(3.) In support of his contention that the wife had treated the husband badly before his friends, the Petitioner examined one Rohit Jain and Sudhir Sud. Rohit Jain stated that he had visited the house of the Petitioner and the Respondent in January, 1991 and when the Petitioner had asked the wife to serve them tea, she refused to extend the courtesy. The other event, which he spoke to, was some insulting remarks which the wife had made on the 4th of July, when their friend Sud celebrated his birth day and invited his friends including the Petitioner and when the discussion was about the architectural plans of the house, the wife had remarked that her husband did not know even the ABC of architecture. PW3 Sudhir Sud spoke about the alleged incident in the year, 1992 when in the evening of November, 1992, when he went to the house to collect money, a quarrel was taking place between the Petitioner and the Respondent in the verandah and the Respondent was abusing the Petitioner. He stated that the Petitioner took his attachi case and was saying that he was driving away in the maruti car, when the wife reminded him that even the maruti car did not belong to him and he could not take the car away.