BALRAJ KUMAR Vs. SUDESH KUMARI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE are two cases under Section 488 Criminal Procedure Code which have been referred to this Court by an Additional Sessions Judge with the recommendation that orders passed in two cases on the same date, the 28th of october 1960, by the Lady Magistrate should be quashed.

(2.) BRIEFLY the facts are that in one case the wife Shrimati Sudesh Kumari instituted proceedings against her husband Balraj Kumar and in the other case shrimati Chander Wati instituted proceedings against her husband Vir Pal, the gist of the petitioner's case in each case being that her husband had ill-treated and turned her out and refused to maintain her. In each case the husband on his appearance put in a written reply to the petition in which liability for payment of maintenance was denied primarily on the ground that the wife was living an adulterous life, a man being named in each case as he person with whom the wife was alleged to be living in adultery.

(3.) ON these allegations by the husbands the learned Lady Magistrate adopted a similar procedure in each case and, instead of pursuing the ordinary course of ordering the wife to lead her evidence first in proof of her claim, she ordered that first of all the husband should lead his evidence regarding the alleged misconduct of the wife.