AMRIK SINGH Vs. NIRMAL KUMARI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant is aggrieved against the judgment and decree passed by the learned Additional District Judge, whereby his petition under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act for dissolution of the marriage by a decree of divorce was dismissed.

(2.) THE marriage between the parties to the petition was solemnised on 11.12.1981 at Hoshiarpur according to Sikh rites. The parties are Government employees. The appellant is working in the Food and Supplies Department, whereas the respondent is working in the Treasury Office at Hoshiarpur. The appellant has sought a divorce on the ground that the respondent was living at village Ajjowal where the appellant was visiting on week ends but she was not willing to stay with the appellant at the place of his posting. The respondent did not agree to his request either to resign from service or to get herself transferred to Garhshankar. Whenever, the appellant visited his house in the village, the wife expressed a desire to separate from her in- laws. Ultimately, the parties took a rented house at Bahadurpur Hoshiarpur and stayed for about 6 months. However, the respondent in the absence of the appellant left the house and started living with her parents. It is alleged by the appellant that he has taken respectables to the house of the respondent and on his pursuation in the year 1989, the respondent joined the appellant and the parties started living in a rented house at Guru Nanak Nagar, Hoshiarpur. However, subsequently, the wife again left his house and joined the company of her parents. The appellant purchased a house at Sutehri road, Hoshiarpur as per the wishes of the wife. The respondent lived in that house for about one week and again came back to her parents house along with the children and also took all the dowry articles in June, 1991. The respondent on one pretext or the other had been living in the company of her parents as they have got no son to look after them.

(3.) WIFE controverted the allegations by filing a written statement and stated that at the time of marriage, the husband was residing at village Ajjowal where he has got landed property as well. Earlier petition for restitution of conjugal rights was dismissed by the court of Additional District Judge, Hoshiarpur. It was submitted that the respondent had been working in Treasury Office at Hoshiarpur even before her marriage and that the appellant has been visiting village Ajjowal by passing through Hoshiarpur but he did not come in the house of the respondent to see the respondent and her children in a rented house in Mohalla Bahadurpur as well as in Mohalla Guru Nanak Nagar, Hoshiarpur. The petitioner used to beat the respondent off and on. She tolerated the harassment with a hope that after the birth of the children, the petitioner would mend himself but the petitioner has not mended himself. She never asked the appellant to leave the company of his parents. The appellant has himself taken one house on rent firstly at Bahadurpur and then in Guru Nanak Nagar, Hoshiarpur. She was turned out of the house 9 years ago with three children and in three bare clothes. Subsequently, she got her children admitted at Hoshiarpur. The appellant is not paying any expenses for the children. She the filed a petition under section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in the year 1994. The husband then started making payment of maintenance at the rate of Rs. 800/- per month. It was alleged that she is spending Rs. 3500/- per month on the maintenance, education and other expenses of the children. The appellant is playing in the hands of his brothers and their wives and they do not want to rehabilitate the respondent and her children in greed to grab the money of the husband. Wife denied that any panchayat was taken by the appellant.