SAVITRI DEVI Vs. OM PARKASH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant's marriage with the respondent husband stands dissolved vide the impugned decree under section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act (for short, the Act). It has been granted on the twin ground of cruelty and desertion. Before dealing with the merits of the appeal it is but necessary to notice in somewhat detail the litigative history of the case which otherwise is not in dispute.

(2.) The appellant wife is stated to have deserted the respondent husband somewhere in September 1975 when she left his house and has not returned to him since then. This made the respondent file a petition under section 9 of the Act for restitution of conjugal rights in 1978. In reply to that petition one of the pleas raised by the appellant was to the following effect :-

(3.) Now the learned counsel for the appellant forcefully contends before me that the respondent has utterly failed to establish both the grounds, that is, cruelty and desertion, pleaded for the grant of the decree. From a bare reading of the judgment of the lower court it appears that tale parties to this litigation have been concentrating more on the ground of cruelty than on that of desertion. The lower Court has not even referred to or discussed any evidence relating to the ground of desertion but has simply concluded towards the end of paragraph 22 that "the evidence also establishes the ground of desertion".